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 Algorithm Updates To Continue, Google Ads Policy Appeal & Page Speed Changes
Firstly, I hope everyone is doing well. There was a possible Google search ranking update this week, it was not confirmed. 58% of SEOs prefer that Google does not do algorithm updates during the coronavirus outbreak... - Google Ads Restricts Targeting Some Government Documents & Official Services
Google announced that Google Ads has a new ad policy starting in May it will no longer allow ads for documents and/or services that can be obtained directly from a government or a delegated provider. This policy goes into effect on May 26, 2020. - Google Won't Hide News Behind Paywalls
Many are now frustrated that when they are searching for news around the coronavirus and COVID-19, often after they click on the result, a paywall comes up on the news site asking to pay to see the story. Danny Sullivan from Google said Google wouldn't give searchers a way to hide such sites in the search results. - Google Ads Has A New Ad Policy Appeal Process
Google announced a new way to appeal policy issues within Google Ads. Instead of going through support, you can now request appeals to ad policy issues a new way. You can make these requests via Google Ads. - Google Knowledge Panel Displaying A Large Video
Here is a screen shot of Google showing a large video in a Google knowledge panel. Brian Freiesleben spotted this and posted about it on Twitter, it comes up for a query on [ps5]. Google has shown videos on local knowledge panels prior, but not sure if they were this big before. - Google Says It Should Continue To Improve The Search Results
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that he feels Google should continue to try to improve the search results even during the coronavirus outbreak. "There are lots of great sites that deserve to be shown where relevant, if we can," he added. - Googler Social Distancing Outside At GooglePlex
I assume this photo is from a while ago but this Googler is kind of documenting her days during the coronavirus crisis. So I assume this is a photo of herself alone, outside at the GooglePlex on those
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Find out which of your pages have been crawled and indexed by Google. In this episode of Search Console Training, @danielwaisberg shows you how to use the Index Coverage report to assess its status and identify iss, Google Webmasters on Twitter
- I assume this was in regards to mobile-first indexing? We've deprecated #! crawling for quite some time now, so you'd need to fix that before we switch the rest of the sites over in the fall, if you want that c, John Mueller on Twitter
- Yes, that's by design. For normal ccTLDs the geotargeting is tied to the country of the TLD. These can still be for global sites, you just can't target other countries., John Mueller on Twitter
- Traffic drop after host moved me to Google servers, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Using SEO to help people find more info on Novel Coronavirus COVID-19
- Coronavirus: Emarketer lowers global ad spend projections for 2020
- Nextdoor rolls out Groups and Help Map in response to coronavirus outbreak
- Live With Search Engine Land: Top SEOs talk shop, social distancing with Barry Schwartz
- COVID-19 checklist for businesses: How to manage your online presence and keep customers updated in a time of crisis
- Pro Tip: How to develop a content calendar that’s relevant with creative leeway
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Content Marketing ROI: 13 Lead Generation Metrics to Measure & Report Every Month, Databox Blog
- Online Google Analytics Course, The Coloring in Department
- Scroll Tracking Optimized, Amazee Metrics
Industry & Business
- Anthony Levandowski Agrees To Plead Guilty In Google-Uber Self-Driving Tech Trade Secrets Case, CBS San Francisco
Local & Maps
- CarPlay and Apple Maps updates spotted in leaked iOS 14 code, Apple Insider
- Apple CarPlay Custom Wallpaper Support Coming to iOS 14, CarPlay Life
- Google Exploring Using Location Info to Slow Coronavirus Spread, New York Times
Mobile & Voice
- How to Combine AMP with Dynamic, Personalized Content, The AMP Blog
SEO
- 5 Tips for Managing Up as an SEO Associate at Seer, Seer Interactive
- Everything You Need to Know About 404 Errors for SEO, Seer Interactive
- Google's Knowledge Graph Explained: How It Influences SEO, ahrefs.com
- How eCommmerce is Being Impacted by Coronavirus and What SEOs Could Do, Distilled
- Getting Smarter with SERPs - Whiteboard Friday, Moz
PPC
- 3 Ways To Lower Ad Costs With Audience Targeting, DELVE
- Amazon Cut Spending on Google Advertising in Recent Days, Yahoo Finance
- Google Search Partners Program Implements New Requirements, Seer Interactive
- Upcoming change to the Google Ad Manager API, Google Ads Developer Blog
Search Features
- Bringing more people online and introducing Camera Go, Google Blog
- Microsoft Edge will finally let you ditch Bing for Google – here’s how to do it, TechRadar
Other Search
- Google Doodle idea encourages social distancing, 9to5Google
- We Analyzed 201K YouTube Channels and Found 3,802 Kids Channels to Negate, Seer Interactive
