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:
- WordPress Wants To Block Google's FLoC By Default
Here is an interesting twist, some at WordPress said it wants to by default and automatically block Google's FLoC on its websites. WordPress wants to treat FLoC as a security concern and said "FLoC places people in groups based on their browsing habits to target advertising." - Hey Google, Do You Have To Optimize Your Whole Website For One Page To Rank Well?
John Mueller of Google was asked another interesting question in this Friday's SEO hangout. The question was, do you need to optimize your whole website if you only care to have one URL, one page, on that whole website to rank well? The answer was not necessarily but it does help the one page to rank if the other pages on the site are optimized. - Google: Trust Seals On Your Site May Not Help With Communicating E-A-T
Google's John Mueller was asked "are seals a good way to improve the E-A-T of a website" By seals, the user means trust seals, like BBB seals, security seals, certification seals, anything that conveys a form of trust on the website. John Mueller basically implied no. - Google Ads Exact Match Loosened Up A Bit
Last week, PPCGreg posted on Twitter that Google Ads is "taking more liberties in the queries they're allowing for Exact Match to show for. He said it "seems like they loosened things up a good bit." - Vlog #116: Shimon Sandler On Growing Your Search Marketing Agency
Shimon Sandler came out to my house in the pretty cold weather, you can see the snow in the corner, to talk SEO and shop. Shimon has been in the SEO space for about 20 years, he has the experience at working at agencies, working in-house for large enterprises and even building his own agency and selling it. We spoke about his history, which leads into why he does what he does now. - Google Keyboard Shortcut [/] To Enter New Search
Google added a new keyboard shortcut to help users more quickly jump their cursor in the search entry box. If you do a search on Google.com and start typing afterwards, Google will prompt you about this keyboard shortcut that reads "Press [/] to jump to the search box." - Zero Gravity Chairs At Google
Here is a photo from a couple years ago from the Google NYC office of a bunch of anti-gravity chairs in one of the rooms at Google. This was part of some rejuvenation program Google was offering to it
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- I’m seeing a neat (seemingly new) FAQ section in the News Full coverage in mobile with full drop downs and more. Has anyone seen this before? Cc @rustybricky https://t.co/mlrwVSWQAr, Shalom Goodman on Twitter
- Chrome 90 has a Core Web Vitals Overlay. You can check the core web vitals score without an extension or plugin now. #seo #pagespeed https://t.co/nEnWL5Jtv4, Koray Tugberk on Twitter
- I'm not aware of anything, but it seems like an implementation detail, and wouldn't be super-surprising. Finding weights for a number of inputs like that seems like a problem suitable for machine learning. ML can, John Mueller on Twitter
- New In Data Studio: Reset report filters and selections Report viewers can now Reset their report. The Reset button enables them to reset all filters and selections made, and restores the report to its default view state, Google Analytics on Twitter
- Ramadan Kareem! Wherever you are in the world 🌍 Search for Ramadan and look for the crescent moon 🌙 https://t.co/Mj3BeD7HuA, Google on Twitter
- Some sites have fantastic user-generated content in the comments, it would be a shame to not highlight that in the search results. There's a lot of value in cultivating & growing a good communi, John Mueller on Twitter
- We will compare our index to Ahrefs’ Live Index as that’s regarded to be the most popular among users. Let's go!, Semrush on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- One-star ratings on Google are deemed not defamatory and why that’s a problem
- How to incorporate search demand in your campaign optimizations
- The Google product reviews update was a big one; Friday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Sharing Reports and Dashboards in Google Data Studio, GlowMetrics
- How To: Do Dynamic Product Meta Data in Magento Using GTM, Organic Digital UK
Industry & Business
- Google subsidiary moved $75bn profits through Ireland, RTE
- Google cofounder Sergey Brin has been working on a secretive airship company for over 4 years. Here's how the billionaire plans to use the 'air yacht' to deliver humanitarian aid, Business Insider
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- Google Assistant Driving Mode gets international preview, 9to5Google
- New car buyers care more about Google Maps than brand of vehicle, T3
- People Are Playing a Guessing Game in Google Maps, Wired
Mobile & Voice
- Apple, Amazon smart home partnership expects devices by end of 2021, Appleinsider
- Google Podcasts 'For You' recommendations now on the web, 9to5Google
SEO
