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:
- June 2020 Google Webmaster Report
Well, it was a pretty jammed packed month for Google webmaster and SEO related news. Google announced an upcoming ranking change named the Google Page Experience Update, where core web vital metrics and page experience metrics will become a ranking factor. Google launched the May 2020 core update and it was big. Google had a confirmed bug with local rankings and a confirmed indexing bug as well. - Google Discovery Ads Now Available Worldwide
Last week, while I was offline, Google announced that Google Discover Ads is now available globally. That means you can now use Google Discover ads to show ads to anyone going to Google's home page on mobile or in the app. These ads are also on YouTube and Gmail. - Google: We Didn't Make Old Domains Rank Better
There has been a lot of speculation around some recent unconfirmed Google search ranking updates. But one of those theories was shot down by John Mueller of Google around old domains getting some sort of ranking boost or change. - Googlebot Desktop Crawling Your Site Still? Make Sure Your Site Is Ready For Mobile.
Google's John Mueller said if you still see that Googlebot Desktop is still the main crawler for your web site in Search Console settings, then you can try to "double-check the usual things to make sure your site is as strong on mobile as it is on desktop, for search & your users." - Google: The Search Indexing Issues Are Now Resolved
Yesterday morning we reported that Google was having issues surfacing fresh content; possibly indexing issues. Then at around 3:30pm ET yesterday, Google confirmed the issue. This morning at 6:09am ET, Google has confirmed the issue has been resolved. - Good Old Massive Google Yellow Wood Chair
It has been a while since I've seen a Googler in one of those massive big wooden chairs. But here is a Google developer sitting in a yellow wooden chair, and it makes her look tiny. She posted this
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- I am hearing chatter of sweeping suspensions across GMB. Word is it is Lead Gen listings getting hit., Jason Brown on Twitter
- Nah, the cache is a separate mechanism. Search for the URL string; if you see it show up in the results, you're good. Otherwise inspect url in search console, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- Link Building strategies, WebmasterWorld
- To be honest, I haven't seen this be a problem in practice. Looking around, researchers have used various tools to automatically recognize jokes, humor, irony, sarkasm, etc., so my hunch is requiring markup to, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google confirmed indexing issues causing some stale results
- Common JavaScript errors that can harm your SEO [Video]
- Bing Webmaster Tools now gives you competitive link data
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How To Set Up and Run Experiments With Google Optimize, Conversion Uplift
- Page-path based Checkout Funnel Analysis with Data Studio, Scandi Web
- Weighted Sorting in Google Data Studio using BigQuery, Analytics Ninja
Industry & Business
- Google is going to try to win TV for the umpteenth time, The Verge
- Google is sued in U.S. for tracking users' 'private' internet browsing, NBC News
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Content Marketing Action Items During a Pandemic, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
- Restaurants Frustrations with No Dine-In Being Displayed in Business Listings, Online Ownership
- Google Maps Feels Like Home on This Volkswagen Golf 7 with Android Auto Upgrade, AutoEvolution
- New Google Maps Version Now Available on CarPlay, There's Good News and Bad News, AutoEvolution
Mobile & Voice
- BBC to launch 'Beeb' voice assistant to rival Google, Alexa, 9to5Google
- Samsung Will Add the Bixby Voice Assistant to Older Galaxy Smartphone, Voicebot
SEO
- 5 Important Copywriting Tools Every SEO Pro Needs, Distilled
- How to Adapt SEO in a Zero-Click World, BruceClay
- JavaScript SEO: What You Need To Know, Ahrefs
- Natural Language Processing Tools for Better SEO, Portent
- What to Know About Google's May 2020 Update & COVID Changes: SERP News, RankRanger
- Managing SEO in a Time of Crisis, Search Metrics
PPC
- June update to Display & Video 360 API v1, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Newly Updated PPC Benchmarks for 21 Industries [June 2020], WordStream
