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:
- 404 Sitemaps To Remove Them In The New Google Search Console
Google's John Mueller was asked if there is a way in the new Google Search Console to remove old Sitemaps files. He said you can 404 them to remove them. Maybe Google will add a button to delete old Sitemap files there but for now, 404ing them will eventually get them to be removed. - Most SEOs Want Fetch As Google Even With URL Inspection Tool
Google told us the Fetch as Google tool is going away and being replaced by the URL Inspection Tool. But some SEOs, well, seems like the majority of SEOs, want Google to port over the Fetch as Google tool as well. A Twitter poll with 88 results shows about 75% want both the Fetch as Google and URL Inspection tool. - Bing: 90% Or More Of Their Core Ranking Algorithm Uses Machine Learning
Yesterday at SMX West, I did a panel named Man vs Machine covering algorithms versus guidelines and during the Q&A portion, I asked the Bing reps Frédéric Dubut and Nagu Rangan what percentage of the core ranking algorithm is AI or machine learning based. To my surprise, they guessed over 90%. - New Google Search Console Ports Security Issues Section
Google has ported another feature from the old Search Console to the new, the security issues section. Google said on Twitter "We hope you don't need to use a Security Issues tab" but if you do, it has been migrated to the new Search Console. - Google Maps Street View Cars Fleet
I guess this is where the street view cars live at Google. This photo was posted Instagram and the person said this is where the Google Maps cars fleet is.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Hey @rustybrick have you ever seen a featured snippet carousel (a.k.a. faceted featured snippet) on the top of a snippet like this? https://t.co/nZtIEgAvxo" / Twitte, Eric Hedekar on Twitter
- "Non-techy" people understand URLs by now John. Get out of the Google bubble for a bit.…, Adam Singer on Twitter
- I wouldn't worry about it.…, John Mueller on Twitter
- With GDPR, Do We Need to Continue to Pay For Domain Privacy, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Build a custom data viz with Data Studio community visualizations, Google Cloud Blog
- Dashboards vs. Reports in Google Analytics, Whole Whale
- Richer interactivity in Data Studio, Google Blog
- Telia Norway increases mobile sales with Google Optimize, Google Blog
- The Analytics 360 Solution Guide: How today’s top brands gain a deeper understanding of the customer journey, Google Blog
Industry & Business
- Activists in Paris protest against Google's tax setup, San Francisco Chronicle
- Google disables app that monitored iPhone usage in violation of Apple’s rules, The Verge
Links & Promotion Building
- Webinar Recap: Revolutionizing Internal Link Building with Kevin Indig & Jon Myers, DeepCrawl
- How to Leverage Natural Syndication Networks to Earn More Links, SEM Rush
- Identifying dead links for more effective link analysis, Builtvisible
Local & Maps
- Bing Releases Trio Of APIs For Local Search, MediaPost
Mobile & Voice
- Voices of Search Episode 34: Is desktop more important than mobile?, Search Metrics
- What Are PWAs? Are They Faster? Are They A Search Ranking Factor?, Ezoic Blog
- Google Voice for Android updated with Google Material Theme [Gallery], 9to5Google
SEO
- 10 Ways to Think Like Googlebot & Boost Your Technical SEO, Search Engine Journal
- How to Improve Google Image Search Ranking, BruceClay.com
- International SEO Best Practices, BrightEdge SEO Blog
- Product Page SEO Tips For Business Owners, Authority Labs
- SERP Features Trends In 2018 - The Volatile vs the Stable [Study], RankRanger
PPC
Other Search
