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:
- Search Buzz Video Recap: Google February Search Update; Local Update & Keywords, Bing Clarifying Questions, Review Snippets & Google Partner Program Changes
This was a busy week; we had a big Google search ranking algorithm update that Google didn't fully confirm but it maybe was a bug that Google reversed, it is hard to say, I explain it all in the video. There may have been a Google local search... - SEMs Not Happy With New Google Partner Program Requirements
Google announced new Google Ads Partner program requirements this week and the SEM and advertiser community is not happy with these changes. The big changes are doubling the ad spend, more of your company need certification and requirements to adhere to Google's recommendations over what might be best for the client. - Google My Business Notifying After Deleting Reviews
Francisco CV shared a screen shot of Google My Business emailing him after a review was deleted from his (or his clients) Google local listing. The email comes from Google My Business with the subject line "We have deleted a review of your business profile." - Bing Search Testing Clarifying Questions In The Search Results
Dawn Anderson reshared a tweet from Alexander Bondarenko that sat in an information retrieval conference where Microsoft demoed how Bing Search can generate clarifying questions for certain queries in the search results. This photo shows a screen shot (not a good quality photo) of this in action. - Google On Using Dublin Core Schema: Just Use Normal Titles & Descriptions
Google's John Mueller was asked if it would be helpful for you to implement Dublin Core schema on your pages. John Mueller responded on Twitter "I'd just use normal titles & descriptions." - I Don't Recognize One Person On This Google Search Relations Team
I thought I knew everyone on the Google webmaster analyst or search relations team but there is one person I do not recognize. I even recognize Molly, the dog. In any event, it looks like part o
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- If a site is classified as spam, it gets put into a box and it is hard to get out of the box. -@nagu_rangan from @BingWMC #pubcon #seo https://t.co/9uz7p4oPaU, Chris Boggs on Twitter
- I'm actually more interested in how to get these nifty author snippets🤔 https://t.co/DgrG8rYGgA, Juan González Villa on Twitter
- I haven't analyzed the site, but I doubt this would all be due to technical issues. The volatility during core updates + getting hammered by the Nov 8 update lead me to believe there could be a number of problems there... http, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
- Sure, you could do that. It's fine to limit Googlebot's access using the appropriate HTTP response codes or a noindex robots meta tag, even if users are able to go there. Without robots.txt, we'd just crawl thos, John Mueller on Twitter
- Are aliases included in site spidering?, WebmasterWorld
- Google Wipes Over 500 Malicious Chrome Extensions From Web Store, WebmasterWorld
- To be totally honest, clicking around on your site, I find it hard to say that this is something we're missing more content from in our index. It looks completely auto-generated, more like someth, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Microsoft Office hits pause on forcing Bing search in Chrome, Firefox
- Your 5 biggest Google Ads challenges & how to solve them
- Leverage Python and Google Cloud to extract meaningful SEO insights from server log data
- Google: ‘We do updates all the time’ — somewhat confirming February update rumors
- No, the Google My Business description does not impact ranking
- Big Google Partners program changes are coming: What you’ll need to qualify
- TechTarget cites technical SEO issues as reason for 25% decline in Google traffic
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google closes $2.6B Looker acquisition, TechCrunch
- One man's mission to add civil rights history to Google Maps, Google Blog
- Yandex Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2019 Financial Results, Yandex
Links & Promotion Building
Local & Maps
- Android Auto now shows a proper weather icon in status bar, 9to5Google
- IKEA gave Dubai customers discounts based on their Google Maps travel times, Engadget
- Machine learning could help Apple Maps fix bogus GPS coordinates, Apple Insider
Mobile & Voice
- New Record for Smart Speakers As Global Sales Reached 146.9 Million in 2019 | Strategy Analytics Online Newsroom, Strategy Analytics
SEO
- Ecommerce SEO: Our Technical Audit Checklist, Go Fish Digital
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: February 7th 2020, DeepCrawl
- How to learn SEO: 7 tips for effective learning, Yoast
- SEO Agency Week: Deciding Which SEO Agency is Right for You - Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics
- Solved: How to stop wasting Crawl Budget, On Page Rocks
- How to Get Your Web Developer on Board with SEO [Bonus PDF] - Whiteboard Friday, Moz
- SEO for AMP Stories, The AMP Blog
PPC
- Get the reach of TV and the relevance of digital with Display & Video 360, Google Blog
- The Top PPC Automation Trends to Expect in 2020, Metric Theory
- Protect your account with two-step verification, Microsoft Advertising
Search Features
Other Search
- Chrome 81: Near Field Communications, Augmented Reality, and More, Chromium Blog
- Valentine's Day 2020, Google
