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.
The Google page experience update for desktop is now fully live but it didn't seem to impact rankings, as expected. Google said it has ways to verify that the Google Shopping merchant experience scorecard metrics are legit and if they are faked, those merchants will be penalized. Google temporarily paused as from serving in Russia. Google may one day crawl from outside of the US, maybe. Google does not have a demo account for Search Console. Plus, I posted the weekly video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Page Experience Update For Desktop Done Rolling Out
That is a wrap - the Google page experience update for desktop is now fully rolled out - as of yesterday, March 3rd. If you are counting, that is a 9-day roll out, which began on February 22nd and ended on March 3rd. - Google: We Mechanisms To Verify Merchant Experience Scorecard Metrics
A couple of weeks ago we reported that Google has a new set of ranking factors specific to the Google Shopping tab named the Shopping experience scorecard program. The concern was that merchants are asked to feed these metrics to Google and that the merchants will only feed positive scores, potentially manipulating the metrics and thus their rankings. - Google Temporarily Pauses All Ads In Serving In Russia
Last night Google announced it is temporarily pausing Google ads from serving to users located in Russia. This is due to the "ongoing war in Ukraine" according to the Google statement. - Google: Googlebot May One Day Crawl From Outside The U.S.
The other day I reported again how blocking US based users would require you to also block Googlebot, Google's crawler. And that would be devastating to a site's search rankings in Google. But John Mueller of Google said it is not out of the question that Google one day may decide to crawl from outside of the US. - There Is No Google Search Console Demo Account
Some folks are asking why there isn't a demo account for Google Search Console like there is for Google Analytics. John Mueller said Daniel Waisberg and the Google Search Console team looked into it but it is "super hard, and requires constant maintenance." That is why they have not done it yet. - Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Page Experience Desktop Update Live, Search Console Errors, IndexNow Growing, Local Map Interactive & Ads Paused In Russia
This week in search, I reported how the Google page experience update for desktop has been fully rolled out. I also posted my monthly Google webmaster recap... - Anton Shulke In Kyiv Making Bandages Out Of Bedding
Many of you may know the loved Anton Shulke from the SEM industry. Well, he is based in Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, and he decided to stick it out during this invasion. He is sharing a number
Other Great Search Threads:
- New for Google Business Profiles. When entering a postcard pin, you are no longer taken to GBP Manager, you are directed right to search. The in-search experience is even closer to full parity., Ben Fisher on Twitter
- Good morning! Today marks the 3rd anniversary of me entering the world of digital marketing (professionally). I wrote my now-customary article on what I've learnt in my third year which yo, Luke Alex Davis on Twitter
- I think it's pretty much the IP address from where the user comes, though our systems also have more smarts built in for the weird world of IP ranges. Language is usually based on the location & browser settin, John Mueller on Twitter
- We mostly have guidance on how to help our systems pick the right date, not on removing all dates. For dates, we have a blog post at https://t.co/dc9oMAckMw which covers the options., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Help for Ukraine SEO & PPC specialists seeking work
- Google page experience update for desktop done rolling out
- Google ‘Confirmed by phone’ label in local panel may add trust to local listings
- Best link-building services and strategies to get more organic traffic
- Microsoft Advertising Editor rolls out support for Microsoft Audience Network campaigns
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- There Is A New Home Page For Google Analytics 4 Properties, tl;dr Marketing
Industry & Business
- Yandex Provides Update on Impact of Current Developments, Yandex
- We’re thinking of our community in Ukraine, Europe and beyond, Local Guides Connect
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Content Marketing Ideas for April 2022, Practical Ecommerce
- Use These 3 SEO Metrics To Measure Your Content Marketing ROI, Search Engine Journal
- How To Create Blockbuster B2B Stories That Sell [Rose-Colored Glasses], Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- Apple Maps now shows Crimea as part of Ukraine, AppleInsider
- Google Maps and Waze Hit by Another Widespread Annoyance on CarPlay, AutoEvolution
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
- Google suspends all ad sales in Russia as censorship demands grow, Reuters
- Russia Demands Google Block ‘False’ Ads About Ukraine War, Wall Street Journal
- Editing photos made easy with Ad Creator, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
- BERT 101 - State Of The Art NLP Model Explained, Hugging Face
- Winter Games 2022 Begin! (Mar 4), Google Doodles
Feedback:
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