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 Tests Local Car Listings From Dealerships
Google seems to be testing launching a new local feature to let car dealerships showcase their local car and auto inventory on Google Search. This was spotted by Jim Kreinbrink and Dan Shure shared this screenshot below. - Google Product Reviews Update Still Seems To Be Rolling Out (Now Done)
Today is two weeks since Google began rolling out the new Google Products Reviews Update. From our early reports, this was a big update and I even posted more data on Search Engine Land about how big. I initially thought the rollout seemed to be isolated to the first few days after it launched but it seems to have kicked up again in the past couple of days. - Google Search COVID Vaccinations Data Source Asks Google For A Link
So if you search for COVID vaccination information in Google Search, Google gives you these lovely charts of how many people have been vaccinated by country, state, etc. But the organization that is providing this data is named Our World in Data and the founder, Max Roser, asked Google that if they want to use its data, can they at least link to the organization's website and not github? - Google Launches AdSense Management API Version 2.0
Google has recently launched a new AdSense Management API. This goes from version version 1.4 all the way jumping to version 2.0 with this update. Version 1.4 will stop working on October 12, 2021. Google also made updates to the AdSense Host API. - Google Ads To Require US Health Insurance Advertisers To Show Certification
Google announced that starting on June 2, 2021, those wanting to advertiser health insurance related products in the US will require to show certification. Ginny Marvin of Google said on Twitter this is to "help ensure a safe user experience" with the ads Google serves around health insurance. - Android Statue With A Mask
The Android statues outside of the Google offices at the Mountain View campus are even masked. Here is the Google Play Android statue outside one of the buildings and it has this massive blue mask.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Average position metric in Search Console Is it a theoretical number? 🤔 How does it get calculated? 🤔 Why are my Google Search results so varied? @JohnMu has the answers in this latest episode of, Google Search Central on Twitter
- Google Ads to start charging GST/HST (tax) for Canadian 🇨🇦 customers?, Darcy on Twitter
- Google is prompting people to search for women-led businesses on their homepage. If you're a woman running a business, it's a good idea to get this attribute added to your GMB listing! https://t.co/Rr63aFnONZ, Joy Hawkins on Twitter
- Looks like new attributes have been added by @GoogleMyBiz for wheelchair-users (seating and toilet) @rustybrick @JoyanneHawkins @GuideTwit @TheSocialDude - new to the UK I believe. https://t.co/WjSmcjILtH, Andrew Bullimore on Twitter
- There's no benefit either way. I'd just keep URLs shorter than 1000 characters (some tools get weird with super-long URLs, and it's hard to track), and overall I'm a fan of shorter URLs,, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How businesses of all sizes can embrace social media
- Microsoft Advertising Partner Summit announces video ads, in-browser price comparisons and Facebook import
- The Google product reviews update was big, just not big for everyone; Wednesday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Apple, Google Come Under Fire at Senate Antitrust Hearing, Wall Street Journal
- Google loses “Location History” court battle in Australia, Ars Technica
- Google’s ethical AI researchers complained of harassment long before Timnit Gebru’s firing, The Verge
Links & Content Marketing
- The Transformation of Content Marketing for B2B, MarketingProfs
Local & Maps
- 5 unorthodox ways to use Google Maps, Popular Science
- Apple Continues Google Maps Offensive, Sends Apple Maps Cars to New Location, AutoEvolution
- Apple Maps to add user reviews and photos in US, AppleInsider
Mobile & Voice
- Americans Would Trust Alexa With Their Kids But Not Their Privacy, PCMag
- Google is working on a way to make automating Assistant easier for the rest of us, Android Police
- Smart Speakers Market Tracker – 1Q21 Database, Omdia
SEO
- Keyword density can still be a useful metric, Yoast
- Recruitment website optimisation part 2: SEO for job postings, Builtvisible
- The Relationship Between Semantic Search and Google, BrightEdge
- Why Optimizing for 0 Search Queries is Okay, SEO Theory
- Why SEO Packages Are Usually the Wrong Way to Go, BruceClay
- 7 SEO automation tools that’ll help you work smarter and boost your rankings, DeepCrawl
- Common Single Page Application Crawling Issues & How To Fix Them, DeepCrawl
PPC
- Global Partner Award Winners: Congratulations!, Microsoft Advertising
- New products: Accelerate your digital strategy, Microsoft Advertising
- Spotted in Accounts: Google Expanding Auto-Applied Changes, Clix Marketing PPC Blog
- Marketing with Purpose course, Microsoft Advertising
