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.
Google Search Console updated the video indexing reports to show an impressions overlay and a sitemap filter. Microsoft Bing said the lastmod field in the sitemap file is one of the most important fields you can enter. Google is doing its own ChatGPT-like feature they are calling Apprentice Bard. Google may have an old Googlebot named GoogleProducer. I also posted the big Google webmaster report for February - make sure to check it out.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Console Video Indexing Report Gains Impressions & Sitemap Filters
Google has updated the video indexing report within Google Search Console to add impression data and a way to filter the report by your available sitemaps. - Microsoft Bing: lastmod Tag In XML Sitemap File Is Critical
Microsoft Bing posted a new blog post saying "for XML sitemaps, one of the most critical tags you can include in your sitemap is the "lastmod" tag." And it will become even more critical as Bing is reworking its crawl scheduling stack to rely more on this lastmod field. - Google Testing Apprentice Bard: Google's Answer To OpenAI's ChatGPT?
CNBC reported the other day that Google is working on its own AI chatbot named Apprentice Bard. Apprentice Bard is reportedly built on Google's AI LaMDA language model stack and while Google is being more cautious with this rollout, Google is working on testing an AI bot in search. - February 2023 Google Webmaster Report
It is time for the Google webmaster report, where I summarize the most important SEO and webmaster-related Google topics for the past month. Google completing the long rollout of the December 2022 helpful content update and link spam update may be the biggest news for the past month. - GoogleProducer: A Googlebot Crawler From Google?
Google may be crawling the web with an old crawler, a old Googlebot, named GoogleProducer. This useragent is not listed on the official Google crawlers page but maybe it is too new to be listed yet? - Google Internal Menu System Tracks Food Preferences
A Googler shared screenshots of the output from the Google internal menu system where it told her that one day she avoids salades and then she must have had some salads to correct that and the next da
Other Great Search Threads:
- A little nitpick here - HTML itself is lexed and parsed with a Googlebot-specific lexer & parser, but the rendered DOM is taken from a Chromium renderer. Makes no difference in this case, tho., Martin Splitt on Twitter
- AdSense Earnings and Observations - February 2023, WebmasterWorld
- For this kind of search results spam, I would just bock with robots.txt or noindex. I can't imagine that a disavow would do anything useful. It's not that the links themselves are problematic, it's more that your site is hosting funky stuff (which is bein, John Mueller on Mastodon
- I imagine users would consider them to be low-quality, content-less pages, right? It seems like the kind of thing you wouldn't want to be found for. Build awareness for the site, allo, John Mueller on Twitter
- If you noindex your most important content, of course that can have an effect. On the other hand, if you noindex a vintage collection of random numbers and characters, as people mig, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- OpenAI launches new tool to detect AI-generated text
- Twitter announces the end of CoTweets
- LinkedIn now lets you add an SEO title and description
- Internal linking for ecommerce: The ultimate guide
- Meta advertising: 5 best practices for 2023
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Understanding the Google Analytics 4 Realtime Report, Data Driven U
- Why (& How) to Set Up Conversion Paths in Google Analytics (Successfully!), WordStream
- Use GA4 and Looker Studio: Build Action, Measure Minds Group
Industry & Business
- Google testing ChatGPT-like chatbot 'Apprentice Bard' with employees, CNBC
- Managing The Client-Agency Relationship: Reflecting On Our Approach To Success, Cypress North
Links & Content Marketing
- AI copyright could lead to new Marketing opportunities, Kevin Indig
- Looking for a Content Marketing Job? Follow This Advice To Get Noticed, Content Marketing Institute
- New AI classifier for indicating AI-written text, OpenAI
- Do Inbound Links Have Less Impact on Google Rankings?, JumpFly
Local & Maps
- Google Maps on Android readies planned charging stops for EVs, 9to5Google
- Apple Maps privacy bug may have let apps secretly access location, 9to5Google
- Real-Time Routing: How to Find an EV Charging Station With Apple Maps, PC Magazine
Mobile & Voice
- 5 hidden settings for a smarter Google Assistant Android experience, Computerworld
- Apple HomePod (second-gen) review: playing it safe, The Verge
- Biden admin report criticizes Apple, Google app stores, Axios
SEO
- Content Diversification SEO, SEO Theory
- How Authority Score Resists Manipulation (Data Study), Semrush
- New Authority Score: The Most Manipulation-Resistant Metric, Semrush
- SEO Automation: How to optimize repetitive and manual tasks, Oncrawl
- SEO Testing Framework: Prioritizing What to Test and When, seoClarity
- Yandex Local SEO Ranking Factors!, Local SEO Guide
- How to Get in Google Top Stories and News Boxes, Hill Web Creations
- SEO Recap: ChatGPT, Moz
PPC
- Five Things SEOs Need to Know About PPC, Rank Ranger
- The Hidden Threat: 1Password Password Manager Phishing Ads on Google, gHacks Tech News
Search Features
- Google Flights and Hotels Make Europe-Mandated Transparency Changes ... in Europe, Skift
- Google’s Continuous Scroll: How long is page 1, really?, Five Blocks
Other Search
- OpenAI releases tool to detect machine-written text, Axios
- Who will compete with ChatGPT? Meet the contenders, VentureBeat
Feedback:
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