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.
The past week or so have been a rough ride with the Google search ranking tremors and instability - some are convinced Google pushed out a core update but didn't announce it. Google updated its video best practices to disclose the thumbnail transparency guidelines. Google is testing explore outfits and shop similar items. Google AdSense now shows screenshots for some policy violations. Bing is testing a branded sidebar navigation for some sitelinks. Oh, today was Google Marketing Live - a lot of news is coming out, which I will cover some highlights tomorrow.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Algorithm Update Tremors & Instability Continues...
So last Monday, we reported about a Google search ranking algorithm update that touched down on May 16th - the 6 month or so anniversary of the last confirmed Google core update. Well, that unconfirmed Google update continued on throughout the rest of the week through today, I updated that story a bit to reflect that. - Google Updates Video Best Practices For Thumbnail Transparency Guidelines
Google has added one line to its video best practices document explaining that you should have at least 80% of your thumbnail pixels have little or no transparency to enable video indexing. - Google Search Explore Outfits & Shop Similar
Google's search results keep getting more and more visual and with this newish Explore Outfits and Shop Similar box, we now see super large images that slide into other images. Here is a GIF of it in action, I personally was not able to replicate this but Khushal Bherwani posted this on Twitter. - Screenshots Now In The Google AdSense Policy Center
Google AdSense said it can now show you screenshots of your issues in the AdSense policy center. "To make it easier to determine what to fix when you have a policy issue, we're introducing screenshots to the Policy center," Google wrote. - Bing Tests Branded Sidebar Navigation Tool
Microsoft Bing is testing a branded side bar explorer bar on the left side for some branded queries. I was able to replicate it in Safari on Mac but not on Chrome yet. Basically if you search for brands, some will show a sidebar that replicates the sitelinks it shows in the search results. - Google Pittsburgh Welcome Back Balloons In Lobby
As the Google offices open up, they try to make Googlers feel excited to come back to the office. We've seen bands and events and more. Here is a smaller Google office, the Google Pittsburgh office, w
Other Great Search Threads:
- Affiliate links are just a form of monetization, there's nothing inherently bad about them., John Mueller on Twitter
- Both XML sitemaps and RSS feeds can be helpful for crawling a site (the combination sitemap + RSS feed doesn't make much sense though). I'd check out https://t.co/xc9rkqjYrN if you're curious., John Mueller on Twitter
- Looking at the first screenshot, those aren't sponsored posts as far as I can tell. They're monetized, but that doesn't make them bad., John Mueller on Twitter
- Building @Neeva search index means crawling and parsing billions of web pages 🤯 Any system that operates at the scale of billions of pages breaks all the time. Building a reliable large-scale system over unreliable behavior, Neeva on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Is Google Search showing fewer sitelinks
- Google News new design being tested
- How privacy changes affect B2B paid search marketing
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to Sell GA4 to Your Organization or Clients By Overcoming Objections, Data Driven U
- Marketers Guide to Sessions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Online Metrics
- Why Every Business Owner NEEDS Google Analytics, A L Roberts
Industry & Business
- Google and news in the UK: The facts, Google Blog
- Google Maps Workers Say They Can’t Afford the Trip Back to the Office, New York Times
Links & Content Marketing
- Broken Link Building: The Complete Guide, Ahrefs
- How To Breathe New Life Into Unpublished Content, Content Marketing Institute
- Ultimate Guide to Internal Linking in SEO, Onely Blog
Local & Maps
- Google is testing a smaller, modular Street View camera system, Engadget
- HBD to us! Let’s celebrate with Street View adventures, Google Blog
- Street View turns 15 with a new camera and fresh features, Google Blog
Mobile & Voice
- Chrome for Android to let you remove Discover feed, 9to5Google
- Google has made Wear OS worth believing in again to the people who matter, Android Police
- Future Apple Pencil may feature full touch-sensitive controls, AppleInsider
SEO
- Adam Savage rants about Google Search, Boing Boing
- 10 Things to Include in an SEO Strategy, RankRanger
- DIY SEO Testing Pitfalls, Search Pilot
- Knowledge Panels & SERPs for ambiguous search queries, Koop
- SEO 101 Ep 431: How to Use Images to Improve Rankings With Mike Blumenthal, StepForth
PPC
- Five Crucial Aspects of the Most Popular PPC Ad Platforms, PPC Hero
- Paid Media vs. Earned Media: Learn to Boost Your Business Effectively, PPC Expo
Search Features
- Turing Image Super Resolution, Bing Search Quality Insights
Other Search
- Bogus DMCA Notices Sent to Google By Fake Google....To Protect Google?, TorrentFreak
- The Global Search Central Virtual Unconference 2022 is a wrap!, Google Search Central Blog
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
