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.
Car dealerships can list their car inventory in the Google local results with cars for sale on Google Business profiles. Microsoft Bing released a new plugin for WordPress to easily allow you to add IndexNow to your site. Google is testing a new look for visual stories and also for trending searches in google Discover. Also, Google's people also ask is testing a "read full answer" button.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- IndexNow WordPress Plugin Released By Microsoft Bing
Our friends at Microsoft Bing released a holiday gift over Christmas, the IndexNow WordPress plugin. If you run your site on WordPress, you can easily click a few buttons to add IndexNow support to your site and get instant indexing from Bing and Yandex. - Google Tests New Visual Stories Designs
It looks like Google is testing new layouts and formats for the visual stories, formerly AMP stories. Brodie Clark shared some screen shots of the new designs on Twitter. - Google People Also Ask With Read Full Answer Button
Google is testing a new option on some people also ask results, an option to click a button that says "read full answer." Valentin Pletzer spotted this in the German Google results and I am not able to replicate it on my end, but here are his screenshots, you can click on them to enlarge. - Google Discover Tests New Look For Trending Searches
Google is testing a new look and design for the trending searches you see on the Google home page on mobile and in Google Discover. Here is a screenshot of the slick search phrase in a bubble with the trending icon next to it that Jason Mandragona shared on Twitter. - Cars For Sale On Google Business Profiles
Google is showing more and more cars for sales in the local search results. Saad AK spotted it the other day and shared a video of it in action and Riley Hope shared more details on how dealerships can get their cars in these spots. - Google Street View Skier With 360 Cameras
Here is a photo of a Google Maps street view skier with the 3560 Google Maps cameras strapped onto his back. Bill Hartzer shared this with me on Twitter, there are more photos below.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Sorry to hear this. We’re always looking to keep improving our results. If you’re comfortable sharing any of the queries you found disappointing, happy to pass those on so we can look into them…, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- Google > Mobile Interesting: I saw Visual highlights section in SERPs. It had "Hotel tour" section (with the number of pages mentioned in the corner) & Things to do nearby section. Sending to: @rustybrick SIR. https://t.co/qXktMx, Saad AK on Twitter
- Some are not happy with Google's search engine results, so they're building their own blacklist. The blacklist will help them filter Google's search results through an extension so that Google's more usable, apparently. http, Bill Hartzer on Twitter
- We've talked about disavowing random links lots of times - is there a missing angle that I could help cover? If it's a random link, just ignore it. Save your time for Ironman training :) (do you h, John Mueller on Twitter
- Anyone else playing around with Merchant Center benchmark product price difference yet? Quite easy to match with performance data from the Ads UI. Q: "But very few products have a benchmark available?" A: check how man, Mike Ryan on Twitter
- Bid goodbye to #Alphabet after 3000+ days. Coming up: quality #sabbatical time off, to be spent with family, and in reading, learning and exploration. A thread, my first!, Ashwin Limaye on Twitter
- Google Indexing shows irrelevant page title, WebmasterWorld
- It’s time for the lightning round! ⚡ You asked us questions about domain names and @JohnMu is here with some answers. 🤔 Can I rank internationally with a ccTLD? 🤔 Are .com domains preferred? … and mor, Google Search Central on Twitter
- January 2022 AdSense Earnings and Observations, WebmasterWorld
- Search appearance / structured data doesn't affect ranking though - unless you're talking about non-search features like Google Jobs., John Mueller on Twitter
- So it turns out if we have a non-consecutive gap in data, we end reporting at the gap. The team involved with this already had a fix in production to resolve this. That should go live likel, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The ultimate social media guide to building your brand in 2022
- Best Buy to sell search ads under its own in-house media company
- How to automate your ad copy without sacrificing control
- Microsoft releases IndexNow plugin for WordPress
- Google fixes user and permissions issue with Search Console
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to Create CASE Statements in Google Data Studio, Seer Interactive
- Pages Reporting in Google Analytics 4, Krista Seiden
Industry & Business
- CCI to complete investigation into Google billing policies in 60 days, Live Mint
- Google Subject to New, Tougher Supervision by German Regulator, Bloomberg
- Roku drops on concern of increased competition from Amazon, Google, CNBC
- Warren, Jayapal tell Google to stop seeking DOJ antitrust chief recusal, CNBC
- Google hit with 150 mln euro French fine for cookie breaches, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
- 15 More Ways to Optimize Your Link Anchor Text, I Love SEO
- Internal Linking Best Practices for SEO, Mike Ginley
Local & Maps
- Android Automotive getting YouTube app, more car controls, 9to5Google
- Google Maps helps Italian police capture mafia fugitive, Reuters
- WhatsApp Testing search for nearby businesses, right within the app, tl;dr Marketing
Mobile & Voice
- CES 2022: Better together with Android and beyond, Google Blog
- First look: Apple smart glasses may revolutionize augmented reality as soon as 2025, AppleInsider
- Google Home, YouTube integrate with Volvo Cars, TechCrunch
- Google is working to improve Windows and Android integration, Engadget
SEO
- The not-so-SEO checklist for 2022, Search Engine Watch
- The SEO Basics - Title Tags, RankRanger
PPC
- The value of overlapping audiences, Microsoft Advertising
- What does Call Tracking, Google Ads & PPC mean?, PPC Hero
Other Search
Feedback:
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