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 & Bing Search Ranking Changes, Query Dependent Rankings, CTR & More
This week, we covered both a possible Google search and Bing search algorithm update. Bing said only a few people at Bing really understand how core ranking works there... - Bing: Only Few People At Bing Understand How Core Ranking Works
Frédéric Dubut from the Bing search team posted on Twitter about the CTR spectacle but in that he said a statement that said "Even within Bing there are relatively few people who truly understand how core ranking works." - Nope. Google Does Not Use CTR For Core Search Rankings
I am so so so tired of covering this topic, we've covered it for well over a dozen years and I just covered it a week or so ago. Google doesn't use CTR, click through data, to rank their search results. But of course, Google posted something that is driving huge confusion again around the topic. - Study: Google Featured Snippets Are More Consistent Than I Thought
The folks at RankRanger came out with a study around Google's featured snippets that shows that on average a featured snippet from a specific site will only be swapped out with a different site but it is rare for it to be swapped out to a third site. Even more, the dominant URL will show 77% of the time, as opposed to the second URL. This all means to me that featured snippets and their placements are more consistent than I thought. - Google Adjusts Algorithms For Categories Of Queries But Not For Industries
Google's John Mueller addressed a long time topic of interest in the SEO industry around does Google have specialized ranking algorithms for different industries, niches, categories and so on or not. So for the adult industry, or pharmaceuticals, health, finance, etc - does the algorithm work differently. John said Google doesn't think about it that way, they look from the query - not the industry. - Google Updates Hotel Reviews Experience
Kara from Google announced in the Google My Business Help forums that they've updated how reviews work for hotels within the desktop search results. "We've updated how Reviews look for hotels on Desktop Google Maps. Now, Desktop Google Maps displays reviews from both Google users and third-party providers (from TrustYou)," she said. - Google Face Painting
Some time ago, the Google Tel Aviv office in Israel had a face painting company come in and do face painting for the staff. Here are some photos from the event that I found on Instagram.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Ranking Bahasa language pages disappeared from search results, replaced by EN pages instead, Google Webmaster Help
- Easily find predefined reports for the dataset you’re viewing, Google Ads Help
- I don't know if conventional wisdom is always correct :).…, John Mueller on Twitter
- The New #GoogleAnalytics #SearchBar on Top is awesome to use. Good #UX #UI as well.…, Manikandan N on Twitter
- Google Launches .dev TLD Now in Early Access Period, WebmasterWorld
- I see lots of people learning, which is great for the industry. There's still so much misinformation & confusion out there, it's good to see some of that being cleared up.… https://t.co/9rL2r0mZsj, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Search Console adds Products to enhancements reporting section
- Service workers and SEO: SEO for Developers
- Video comes to Google responsive display ads
- 5 practical data blending examples for smarter SEO insights
- Building a competitor analysis is a process, not a single event
- SEO survival in 2019: Words of wisdom from Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers
- Google doc rekindles myth that click-through rate affects rankings
- The Dummies Guide to Enterprise Customer Data Platforms
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Why Is Google Tag Manager So Important?, Absolute Digital Media
- How to track Excel file downloads in Google Analytics using Google Tag Manager, Michael Howe-Ely
Industry & Business
- Baidu Reports 50% Quarterly Profit Drop but Revenue Beats Projections, Wall Street Journal
- Under pressure, Google to end mandatory arbitration for employees, Axios
Links & Promotion Building
- What a Two-Tiered SERP Means for Content Strategy - Whiteboard Friday, Moz
- Why collaboration is king: How to synchronise for strategic link building, Builtvisible
Local & Maps
- Google Maps 10.10 adds 'Personal events' toggle, preps auto-deleting Location History [APK Insight], 9to5Google
- Google Maps AR navigation lands in Europe starting from Germany, Gizchina
Mobile & Voice
- Five new investments for the Google Assistant Investments program, Google Developers Blog
- The Influence of Voice Search on Featured Snippets, Moz
- Alibaba Dominates China Smart Speaker Sales with 41.2% Share, Voicebot
SEO
- A Simple 7-Step SEO Tutorial for Beginners, ahrefs.com
- Add to Your Style Guide Annotation Text: A New Anchor Text Approach, Go Fish Digital
- Page Speed And Why It Matters, Raven Blog
PPC
- Change to the Google Ads API and the AdWords API Showcase Ads Clicks Reporting, Google Ads Developer Blog
Search Features
