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 Search Shuffles; SEMRush Guest Posts Controversy, Bing Webmaster Tools Updates & More
It was a busy week in search; I posted my monthly Google webmaster report, which sums up the past month in SEO. I also noticed Google search ranking changes earlier in the week. SEMRush ran into a bit of a scandal... - Google Rich Results Now Showing For Home Pages - Is It A Bug?
Brodie Clark posted screen shots of Google showing rich results, i.e. stars and FAQ schema, for a couple of site's home pages in the Google search results. Google has said it generally does not show rich results for home pages, both John Mueller and Gary Illyes said this in the years past. - New: Site Scan In Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing launched a new feature in the new version of Bing Webmaster Tools - Site Scan. Site Scan is basically a tool that you can run to see common SEO issues with your site. This is run in real time, so you press start scan, and then wait for Bing to send you back the report. - Prabhakar Raghavan New Lead Of Google Search; Replaced Ben Gomes
Prabhakar Raghavan, who has been running the Ads and Commerce teams since 2018, is replaced Ben Gomes as the head of Google Search and Assistant. Ben Gomes is still with Google, he is just moving to Google Education. Ben took over as head of Google Search in 2008 when he replaced John Giannandrea, who replaced Amit Singhal. - Google Wont Add Featured Snippet Highlight Tracking To Search Console
When Google launched featured snippets anchor and highlight feature, it came with added tracking parameters to the URL you click on from Google. Google adds on #:~:text= to the URL you click on from Google. - Google Keyword Planner Adds Refine Keywords
Google added the ability to refine keywords directly in the Google Keyword Planner tool. Google wrote this is to help "make it easier for you to find keyword ideas that fit with your new and existing campaigns, you can now refine keywords in Keyword Planner." - New Google Ads Explanations Show Changes In Account Performance
Google Ads introduced a new feature that has been in beta since late last year named Google Ads Explanations. Explanations give you insights into large changes in your Google Ads account performance. These explanations help you quickly find out why it happened with the performance of your campaigns. - Google Austin Library - Video
Google's Austin office is nice, well, if we could go there. But here is a photo of the library at the Google Austin office. Plus, embedded below is a video of it that I found on Instagram.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Google Facing $5 Billion U.S. Lawsuit Over User Tracking, WebmasterWorld
- If you want to block something from being crawled, you should block it from being crawled :), John Mueller on Twitter
- or maybe it's a sign that you could be doing more in other languages yourself, that there's room for you to expand? And, if it's just automated translation spam, pro, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Will publishers drop AMP when it’s no longer a requirement for Top Stories?
- SEL 20200605
- Call analytics platforms: What are they good for?
- Bing Webmaster Tools new Site Scan feature finds SEO issues
- Combine location data and external trends to build diverse audience strategies [Video]
- Google promotes Prabhakar Raghavan to lead Search, replacing Ben Gomes
- 5 Things Search Engine Land Can Do For Your Team Right Now
- SEMRush drops paid guest blogging service after Google policy scrutiny
- Google My Business offers more flexibility with business hours
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Cross Device Reporting in Google Analytics, DELVE
- 21 Practical Tips for Building Better Business Dashboards, Databox Blog
Industry & Business
- Google looking to support satellite internet providers, 9to5Google
- Google Search a Target of U.S. Antitrust Probes, Rival Says, Bloomberg
- Happy Birthday, Mr. President: Trump Hits Record On Google Ads, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- Find More Questions by Topic, InLinks
Local & Maps
- Heartbeat of the Earth: artists explore climate data, Google Blog
- How to share location in Google Maps with Plus Codes, CNBC
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- The Unique SEO Content Strategy to Rank #1 with Zero Links, Cognitive SEO
- What Are Keywords? Why Are Keywords Important to SEO?, BruceClay
PPC
Other Search
