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.
There may have been an unconfirmed Google product reviews update late last week. Yandex had its source code leaked and SEOs are reviewing the search engine source code. Google said doing a redesign may make your rankings go nuts. Google also said that you should use absolute URLs in your rel-canonicals. Google Ads has not posted new announcements in over two months now. Plus, I posted a vlog with Jeff Ferguson.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Unconfirmed Google Update Impacting Product Reviews Sites On Thursday, January 26th?
On Thursday, January 26th, there were some signs of a possible Google search ranking algorithm update. The signals and chatter I was tracking, honestly, were not at super high levels. However, now that I see Glenn Gabe shared some really shocking charts of sites previously impacted by Google updates but now seeing a big swing. This is not necessarily a product reviews update but rather sites in the product reviews space that are seeing massive swings on the 26th. - Yandex Search Ranking Factors Leaked & Revealed
Yandex had a boatload of its source code across all its technology allegedly leaked by a disgruntled employee and part of that was the source code for Russia's largest search engine - Yandex. As you can imagine, SEOs and others are diving in and seeing what they can learn from the source code. - Google: If You Redesign Your Site Your Rankings May Go Nuts
Gary Illyes from the Google Search Relations team posted another PSA on LinkedIn. This time he said, "when you redesign a site, its rankings in search engines may go nuts." - Google: Don't Use Relative Paths In Your rel-canonical
Gary Illyes from from the Google Search Relations team posted another PSA on LinkedIn, this one says "don't use relative paths in your rel-canonical." Gary wants you to use the full, absolute URL, when it coms to rel-canonical. - Google Ads News & Feature Announcements Dry Up
The Google Ads team has not posted a new feature announcement or any new announcements on its new features and announcements page for about two and a half months, since November 17, 2022, and any Google Ads policy updates since mid-December. - Vlog #208: Jeff Ferguson On Starting His Own Digital Marketing Agency
In part one, we go through Jeff Ferguson's long history in search marketing. Here, in part two, we pick up with him starting his own agency... - Display Wall At Google Pier 57
Here is one of the many walls at the new Google Pier 57 location. You can see they set up a display wall that houses a Google surf board, Google letters, Android figurine, and much more.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Russia Hackers leaked 44.7 GB of @yandex source codes There is no source code for the search engine itself, but there are most of its services with comments and documentation. Apparently, the company's private, David Kime on Twitter
- The cached page doesn't affect ranking, so if you're seeing issues with ranking, I'd look at other things., John Mueller on Twitter
- Today we are rolling out Search Keywords Ads to all advertisers as a beta test, Twitter Business on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Twitter has launched a Search Keyword Ads beta test to all advertisers
- What is ChatGPT and why SEOs should care
- Performance Max for B2B: 4 best practices
- Google rolling out cars for sale in Google Business Profiles
- This day in search marketing history: January 26
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Optimize Sunset: Everything You Need to Know, MeasureMinds
- Session Attribution With GA4 Measurement Protocol, Simo Ahava's blog
- Your Guide to Moving from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4, Know Agency
Industry & Business
- Google Prepares for Second Antitrust Battle as DOJ Targets Its Ads Business, Wall Street Journal
- Yandex denies hack, blames source code leak on former employee, Bleeping Computer
- Yandex source code leaked on a hacking forum, Cybernews
- Google Asks Ninth Circuit for Rehearing in Kids’ Privacy Suit, Bloomberg
- SEO Interview: The Value of Local SEO & Search Career Insights, Lumar
Links & Content Marketing
- BuzzFeed to Use ChatGPT Creator OpenAI to Help Create Some of Its Content, Wall Street Journal
- How Does Internal Linking Impact Topical Authority?, iPullRank
- How To Scale Your Content Marketing Strategy To Improve Efficiency, Content Marketing Institute
- Google services to provide clearer information in compliance with EU, The Verge
Local & Maps
- How to open links in Apple Maps instead of Google Maps, AppleInsider
- Android Auto 'Searching for GPS' issue hits some users, 9to5Google
- You Don't Need Internet to Use Google Maps on Your Phone, CNET
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant 'Sorry, I don't understand' error reported by some, Piunika Web
- Move over, Siri: Apple’s new audiobook AI voice sounds like a human, Fox News
SEO
- 5 Ways to Use ChatGPT for SEO, Practical Ecommerce
- Digital marketing for small businesses: A quick start guide, Wix SEO Hub
- SEO Experiment Acid Test, SEO Theory
- SEO Split Test Result: Adding Departure Location and Destination Keywords to the H1, Semrush
- Does web accessibility have a positive impact on SEO?, Accessibility Checker
- Making Google search data available at scale, Omi Sido
- What Are Hreflang Attributes & How to Implement Them, Semrush
PPC
- 5 tips to power your 2023 marketing strategy, Google Blog
- Let's Talk Google Ads Bid Floors (or Reserve Prices), ZATO Marketing
Other Search
Feedback:
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