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.
How frequently you publish is not a spam signal for Google. Google is testing a new location override for search. Google is testing perspectives and opinions in Google Search. Google will ignore your robots.txt directives if it serves a 4xx status code. Did you know that Google can show a local wait time button for some local places?
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Local Check Wait Time Button
Google is testing a "check wait time" button for some local results in the Google search results. I guess this tells you how long you have to wait to receive service from the local business, like a restaurant. - Google Will Ignore Robots.txt Rules If It Serves A 4xx Status Code
Here is another PSA from Gary Illyes of Google. In short, if you serve a 4xx status code with your robots.txt file, then Google will ignore the rules you have specified in that file. - Google Search Perspectives & Opinions
Google seems to be testing a new box in the search results named perspectives and opinions. The naming convention reminds me of Google perspectives, but this acts differently, as the old perspectives were featured snippet based, and these new perspectives and opinions are more product review based. - Google: Publishing Frequency Does Not Make Something Spam
John Mueller of Google said on Twitter that "publishing frequency alone does not make something spam." Google's algorithms don't look at the content volume as a spam signal alone. - Google Search Tests New Location Override Feature
For a long, long time, Google has given searchers a way to override the location Google Search thinks you are searching for. Often, that location was in the footer, but for the past several months Google has been showing it at the top of the search results page for some more location-aware queries. - Google New York City Inside Green Beach Chairs
Google's New York City office is massive and has a lot to offer, for the Googlers that do end up going into the office. Here is a small little corner somewhere in the massive office where you can sit
Other Great Search Threads:
- The duplicate content penalty is one of the more persistent "myths" out there., John Mueller on Mastodon
- I don't know quite what you're seeing, but if they're copying your content, I'd look into the DMCA process (I can't give you legal advice, you may want to check with a lawyer if that's suitable for your case). If you feel it's just spammy, I'd use the spa, John Mueller on Mastodon
- I'm guessing the reporting is on the canonical for the reports you're looking at (and for paired AMP setups, the canonical is the non-AMP URL), John Mueller on Mastodon
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- The 2023 State of Business Reporting, Databox Blog
- Understanding Google Analytics 4, Joe Hall
- Why a Google Analytics 4 transition should be your top New Year’s resolution, SmartBrief
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
- Content Briefs: What Are They & How To Make One, KWI
- The Sweet Spot for Getting to Know B2B Influencers, Online Marketing Blog
Local & Maps
- 5 Google Maps Alternatives That Actually Respect Your Privacy, Make Use Of
- How To Make Local Service Pages More Helpful (And Less Mundane), Sterling Sky Inc
Mobile & Voice
- Google Translate expands offline language support, 9to5Google
- Modifying a Reverse Image Search Query: Google Lens and Reverse Image Search, SearchReSearch
SEO
- How to Increase Organic Traffic: 12 Tried & Tested Tips, Ahrefs
- 2023 SEO Trends: Stay Focused on User Experience (Core Web Vitals in 2023), Lumar
- 5 Essential SEO Tips You Need to Follow in 2023, HackerNoon
- How to Align Your Blog with Your Organic Search Conversion Funnel, Moz
- Medical SEO Solutions, Level343 LLC
- SEO Automation: 9 Tasks That Save You Time & Money, Ahrefs
- What is keyword cannibalization?, WTF is SEO?
PPC
- The 5 Best Long-tail Keyword Generator Tools, Ahrefs
- Your opportunity to scale campaigns in 164 markets, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
- Why we focus on AI (and to what end), Google Blog
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