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:
- Google Ads New Summary Views User Interface
Google Ads announced a new summary view interface with the goal of making "it easier for you to manage your campaigns." The new views include performance at a glance, performance custom recommendations, quick create and edit campaigns and a quick way to manage your keywords. - Google Video SEO Tips In New Video & Updated Help Docs
Google has published some new and updated resources around video SEO. First, there is a new video, lighting talk, on the topic of video SEO best practices by Danielle Marshak, Product Manager at Google. Second, there is an updated help doc section on video SEO best practices. - Google Search Bar & Tools Cut Off Or Too Long Bugs?
Eric Heiken shared a photo of what looks like a Google Search bug with the search bar and the search tools. It shows the search tools right aligned to the search bar, which is not normal. I then did some testing and noticed on some browsers, the search bar was being cut off. - Google To Update Robots.txt & Robots Tags Help Docs - Asks For Feedback
So while Google made some additions to the meta robots directives section of the robots help documents, Google's Gary Illyes and Lizzi Harvey said more is to come. They said if you have feedback and want anything added or explained in the docs, to let them know by submitting feedback now. - Google Added To The Help Documentation For Meta Robots Directive
Google has made some updates to the meta robots directive help documentation, specifically by adding more examples for the max-snippet and specifying for each tag what Google's default behavior is when the tags are omitted. I highly recommend you re-review these docs starting from the valid indexing & serving directives until the end of that section. - Roller Skating At Google With Stan The Dinosaur
Here is a photo I recently found on Instagram of a roller skater near Stan the dinosaur, who is wearing a mask. Fun to see this photo, makes me smile. I think Stan is also smiling but hard to tell u
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- We generally don't "make up" URLs for main crawl. we have to see the URLs to crawl them (in form of anchors, sitemaps, rss, etc.). chrome is not one of the discovery sources, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- Lab tests are always approximations, so some differences are likely. Regarding AMP, we count what users see. If it's a valid AMP and users see it from the cache, that's what counts. If it's, John Mueller on Twitter
- Started a new job as an SEO specialist, and it's not what I was expecting..., Reddit
- Yes, that's fine. The different aspect ratios tend to be used for different features, and the different images shouldn't cause issues in that regard (we'd certainly want to pick them up for Google Images)., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Give your customers the experience they deserve
- Set yourself up for PPC success this spring and beyond
- Why the FTC didn’t sue Google in 2013; Wednesday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google Lens AR lead leaves for Robinhood, 9to5Google
- Supporting diversity in European newsrooms, Google Blog
- Yoast SEO 1.0 to 16.0: An interview with Joost de Valk, Yoast
- Investing in America in 2021, Google Blog
Local & Maps
- Android Auto fixes phone speaker bug w/ latest update, 9to5Google
- Apple Maps now shows COVID-19 vaccination locations, The Verge
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant reminds us: 'Hey, you haven't spied on your friends in a while', Android Police
- Siri now recommends books Oprah's reading, 9to5Mac
- Why Apple pulled the plug on HomePod: High cost and lack of Thread support, Stacey on IoT
SEO
- 7 Google SEO Tools Every Website Publisher Should Use, BruceClay
- A/B Testing: Take the Guesswork out of SEO, Ryte
- Analyzing the best ecommerce platforms for SEO, ClickZ
- Here's Why Google's Page Two Is Your Friend, SuccessWorks
- Domain Splitting for Google Success: The story of About.com, Search Metrics
PPC
- Google Limits Visibility in Search Terms Reporting for Privacy, DAGMAR Marketing
- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Competitor Brand Bidding, Hallam
- Google’s tracking changes could be painful for marketers, Digiday
Search Features
- Stay tournament-ready with Google, Google Blog
