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: With March 2019 Core Update We Try To Make Incremental Improvements
Google's John Mueller for the first time addressed the latest Google algorithm update, the March 2019 core update, that touched down on March 12th. He was asked if it was a softening of the August 1st core Medic update. He said he doesn't know but generally Google likes to make incremental updates in these cases. - What Is Google's Neural Matching?
Yesterday I covered that Google said that their neural matching AI has nothing at all to do with the March 2019 core update, nor any previous updates. But this concept of neural matching seems to confuse not just SEOs but also Googlers - so I thought I'd bring it up again. - Google Search Console Now Allows Removal Of XML Sitemaps
You can now remove your XML Sitemaps from the new version of the Google Search Console. Pedro Dias first spotted this and posted about this on Twitter. You can go to your Sitemap report and click on a sitemap you want to remove, then the three dots to remove that sitemap. - Google: Differentiate Structured Markup Between Recorded & Live Stream Videos
Google's John Mueller said in a webmaster hangout yesterday that it is really important that when you use structured data for video content, you use the right markup based on it being either recorded video or live stream video. - First Day Of Spring, Spring Equinox Logos From Google & Bing
Today is the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and to celebrate Google has a Doodle, Bing has posted a nice photos on their homepage and we have redone our site's theme today as well. - Puddle Raindrop At GooglePlex
For some reason when I saw this photo on Instagram of a puddle and raindrop at the Google office, the GooglePlex, I laughed. I mean, who would take a photo of a puddle? But I guess it is rare for it t
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I've been wanting to write that up. The short is feel free to personalize, but keep in mind that Googlebot will just see one version, so usually it makes sense to keep a part of the page stable.… https://t.c, John Mueller on Twitter
- I think that's fine - you don't need those per-post feed URLs indexed.…, John Mueller on Twitter
- E.U. Fines Google 1.49 Billion Euros Over Antitrust in Advertising, WebmasterWorld
- Firefox 66 Released, Autoplay Blocking By Default, WebmasterWorld
- ICANN May Allow .Org Domain Renewal Prices to go Sky High, WebmasterWorld
- Oh, I'm well aware that discouraging smart & curious SEOs to test something is a bit futile, but I thought I'd be blunt regardless :)… https://t.co/w3bdxeAXah, John Mueller on Twitter
- To be honest, that doesn't give me a lot of feedback (past ranking doesn't guarantee future ranking); if you have general queries where you see that the results are bad (not just "my site is just as good"), I'd love to forward, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Yelps says Google trying to bring back ‘discredited’ rival links EU antitrust remedy
- The secret formula for determining a marketing budget
- Public Google+ content is getting archived for future generations
- Bing Ads Editor releases updates to make Google Ads imports faster, easier
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Data Studio: What Is It, Why You Should Use It, and How To Use It, WSOL
- Rethink your eCommerce experience with Google Ad Manager, Google Blog
- Two Methods for displaying Year on Year Channel Data in Google Data Studio, Michael Howe-Ely
- Methods of Workflow Sanity with Google Tag Manager., Analytics Ninja
- Why Marketers Should Use Google Tag Manager, MarketingProfs
Industry & Business
- Supporting choice and competition in Europe, Google Blog
- Yelp Says Google's Ad Changes Deliver Little Traffic to Rivals, Bloomberg
- Antitrust: Commission fines Google €1.49 billion for abusive practices in online advertising, European Commission
- Win That Pitch: How SEO Agencies Can Land New Business, Moz
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
- AirPods, the world’s most popular wireless headphones, are getting even better, Apple
- Hey, Google, Siri or Alexa: Which voice assistant responds the best?, USA Today
SEO
- Debugging Common SEO Issues Part 3: Miscellaneous Issues, Authority Labs
- Edge SEO for eCommerce: How to Spend Less for Faster SEO Implementation, Go Inflow
- Google Update 2019: Winners and Losers of the March 2019 Core Update, Search Metrics
- Top Use Cases When to Use 301 Redirects & How to Properly Do It, Cognitive SEO
PPC
- The 8 Best PPC Ad Networks, Search Engine Journal
Search Features
- Bing and React on Amazon Tablets, Bing Search Quality Insights
