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 Nofollow Change, Google & Bing Updates, Mobile-First Indexing Push & More
So, March 1st is this Sunday and Google said it can start using nofollowed links for crawling and indexing but Google said you shouldn't see anything on your end... - Google Nofollow Change March 1st But Google Says Don't Expect Any Change Yet
So the big nofollow link attribute change is coming March 1st, which is this Sunday. But it seems like we shouldn't really see anything happen on March 1st, at least based on how Gary Illyes and John Mueller of Google are both saying we shouldn't see any changes on March 1st. Why? - Google: Don't Lose Sleep Over Others Scraping Your Content
John Mueller of Google said on Twitter that he wouldn't lose sleep over others scraping your copyrighted content. He said "there's a lot of scraped content out there which has minimal visibility, it's not always worth losing sleep over it." - Bing: Webmaster Tools Shows Data For The Normalized URL
Bing said on Twitter that Bing Webmaster Tools shows data for the normalized URL. So you do not need to verify all the variations. Bing said "Http, https, www., Non www, etc and the all the reports are for that normalized URL." This is not how most methods work on Google Search Console, with the exception of the domain properties verification. - Google Rich Results Test Tool Now Previews How-To Rich Results
Google has added another Google Home Hub and smart display feature to the Google rich results test. You can now see a preview of your how-to rich results in the tool. Here is a screen shot from Google via Twitter. - Wheel Of Fortune: GMB Is A Dumpster Fire
This may or may not have been photoshopped by Yan Gilbert, but he posted this on Twitter. A screen shot of Wheel Of Fortune, the game show, showing GMB is a dumpster fire. Is it real? I don't know.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Google Earth Now Comes on Firefox, Edge and Opera Browsers, WebmasterWorld
- Google is testing somewhat confusing implementation of the featured snippet filter bubbles. screenshots: #1 with ads #2 ads removed by me #3 with a selected filter #4 old version cc @rustybrick https://t.co/h9DF4KCS1, Valentin Pletzer on Twitter
- I am *SO* excited. @Google has released a technical writing course for engineers. This has been in the works for a long time, and I hope it has wide adoption. #writethedocs https://t.co/QlZB6oN40p, Alexandra White on Twitter
- Smart Speaker Study: When Conversations Are Mistakenly Recorded, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google experiments with public search profile cards
- Google’s new treatment of nofollow links has arrived
- New Google Lighthouse extension for Firefox goes live
- SEL 20200228
- Yotpo taps Bazaarvoice Network for review distribution to retailer sites
- Get past the hype and into the nitty-gritty of SEO platforms for enterprises
- How SEOs can grow their talent, influence and impact
- Digital asset management platforms: What are they good for?
- Google Rich Results testing tool adds support for ‘How To’ markup for Google Home displays
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Best Google Analytics Custom Reports and Dashboards, In Marketing We Trust
- How to Use Google Analytics to Renew Content Marketing, CMSWire
Industry & Business
- Data centers are more energy efficient than ever, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
- Do outbound links matter for SEO?, Vertical Leap
- The Rules of Link Building - Best of Whiteboard Friday, Moz
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- How Content Length Affects SEO and Conversions, Search Rank
- SEO Spiders: What are Search Engine Crawl Spiders & How Do They Work?, HigherVisibility
- Technical SEO: Everything You Should Know About Sitelinks, BrightEdge SEO Blog
PPC
- A Quick Dive Into Optimization Score, Seer Interactive
- Announcing v3_0 of the Google Ads API beta, Google Ads Developer Blog
- We Improved CPA by 30% and CTR by 24% with Our Quality Score Analysis, Seer Interactive
- Build a high-performing data strategy, Microsoft Advertising
- February Updates to Paid Advertising Platforms, PPC Hero
- Welcome to Google AdSense, Google Blog
Other Search
- Celebrity GIFs: They’re just like us!, Google Blog
