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.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google May Revert Favicons & Black Ad Label On The Desktop Search Results
A couple weeks ago, Google launched the mobile search interface design it had since May 2019 on desktop. It brought the favicons to the snippets and the black ad label for the desktop search ads. This design release, like the mobile released caused a huge number of complaints within the search community but more importantly, unlike with the mobile release, it caused a huge number of complaints outside of the search community. - Microsoft Advertising Ads Label In Bing Search Blend With Organic Also
I am always beating up on Google, so let's give Bing a hard time as well. As Scott Jackson pointed out to me on Twitter this morning, the Microsoft Advertising labels in the Bing search results are incredibly hard to notice as well. Those ads use to be way more visible, now there is this tiny "ad" label, in small font, in a tiny box outline. - Vlog #40: Thom Craver At CBS Interactive On News Bias In Google & Is Schema A Win-Win
Thom Craver (@thomcraver) invited me to his NYC office at CBS Interactive, so this was special, doing a vlog at a real TV network. Thom is the Lead SEO Analyst at CBS Interactive... - Google Moving Right Side Featured Snippet To Top Position
Google should be moving, if they didn't do it already, any right side of the Google search results page feature snippets from that position to the top position. This should have happened by now, but might still be rolling out. This comes to remove confusion around the deduplication change of featured snippet URLs in the search results. - Work For Google As An SEO
Google is hiring an SEO or multiple SEOs again. Former Google SEO, Sean O'Keefe, posted that his old job at Google as an SEO is now open. Sean is now working with the Google AI team - so his role needs to be filled. So if you are an SEO and looking for a job working at Google, in Mountain View, California - you can apply here. - Google Search Console Report Colors Updated
Google has updated some of the colors used in the Google Search Console reports, such as the performance report. The colors are now a blue, purple, green and orange. The old colors were a blue, light blue, green and purple. - New GoogleBot Username Crawling But Chrome 41 Still Visible For Requesting Resources
Bastian Grimm said he is now seeing the new GoogleBot useragent name being used for almost all crawling now. But some are still seeing Google use Chrome 41, not the latest version of Chrome as the useragent. John Mueller from Google said as of now, "the 41 you see is mostly the user-agent used when requesting resources - rendering is done with a modern Chrome version." - Chinese Dragon Dance Costume Party At Google
Here is a photo I found on Instagram from the Google Irvine office in California of Googlers celebrating the Chinese New Years this weekend. Some Googlers are dressed up in those dragon dance costume
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Last time I remembered Bing Places was pulling in Yelp Reviews. Now I'm seeing Facebook reviews getting pulled in. Is this new? @glenngabe @rustybrick @JoyanneHawkins https://t.co/eDbbFlbcDk, Jason Parks on Twitter
- Looks like a new “top sights” feature on mobile cc:@rustybrick - https://t.co/GPd2KK55jX, Brian Freiesleben on Twitter
- 90% less CTR after multiple changes
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google to experiment with more desktop search changes after favicon/black ad label rollout
- Systematically upgrade your existing content: Here’s how (and when) to do it
- Google Ads’ Performance Planner can help predict performance across accounts
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Anvil Insights + Community Viz Statistical Calculator, Google Blog
- Inequality: How to draw a Lorenz curve with SQL, BigQuery, and Data Studio, Medium
Industry & Business
- 20 years of fashion on Google, Google Blog
- Have a Search Warrant for Data? Google Wants You to Pay, New York Times
- How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?, The Verge
- U.S. State Attorneys General to Meet Justice Officials to Coordinate on Google Probe-WSJ, New York Times
Local & Maps
- Metro Is Touting Big Changes To Its Real-Time Data Feed. What Does It Mean For Commuters And App Developers?, DCist
- Siri for Self-Drive Cars: Genius or Patenting the Obvious?, ExtremeTech
- This map app will navigate you from your office chair to your airport gate and more, TechRadar
Mobile & Voice
- Amazon Echo Studio review: Not quite the best smart speaker, but a fantastic value, TechHive
- Google needs to fix its notoriously bad bilingual speech recognition on Assistant and Gboard (Updated), Android Police
SEO
- How do SEOs provide value?, Wellspring Search
- Brand Search Strategy: Save Campaign Spend and Drive More Organic Sales, Seer Interactive
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: January 21st 2020, DeepCrawl
- The Dirty Little Featured Snippet Secret: Where Humans Rely on Algorithmic Intervention [Case Study], Moz
PPC
- Inclusive Marketing: Essential for your brand, Microsoft Advertising
- Taking Advantage of MCC Scripts for Multi-Account PPC Efficiency, PPC Hero
Search Features
