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.
We have seen some light fluctuations over the past few days in the Google Search results, are they search algorithm tremors? Google's John Mueller said there is no notion of page authority at Google. Google has some new local justifications and is testing a country filter in Google News. Google also updated the robots.txt and structured data help docs. Finally, learn from John Shehata, the Global Vice President at Condé Nast on how to advance your career.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google: Quality Changes Take Several Months To Be Reprocessed & Reevaluated
John Mueller of Google confirmed what most of you SEOs already know, that it can take Google "several months" to understand quality changes that are made to a site. John Mueller said on Twitter "making significant quality changes across a site takes time to be picked up & reflected in search." "These things often take several months to be reprocessed & reevaluated," he said. - Again, Google Does Not Use Sentiment For Ranking Purposes
In 2018, Google's Danny Sullivan said Google does not recognize sentiment in Google Search. He was asked again in 2021 and Danny Sullivan, no, Google still does not consider it for uses in Search. - Google Begins Showing Non AMP Pages In Top Stories Carousel
We expected Google to start showing non-AMP pages in the top stories carousel in mobile search last Thursday. It seems like as of yesterday, Monday afternoon, Google began to show non-AMP pages in the top stories carousel. - A Lot Of Expandable Google Ads
Google has expandable ad formats and it seems like Google likes to use those formats for some queries and for some searchers. Valentin Pletzer shared screen shots of him being covered with these ad formats in Google Search. - When Google Ads Might Not Show Quality Score Metrics
Did you ever look at your Google Ads reporting and see that the quality score metrics are missing data. Specifically the columns for quality score, expected CTR, landing page experience and ad relevance fields. Well, the reason may be that Google does not have enough exact match impressions to come up with the data. - Google Yellow Volkswagen Bus With A Boot
I asked Satyajeet Salgar of Google who went to Google last week for an in person meeting to snap photos of anything for this daily piece and he sent me a photo of a yellow Volkswagen bus. This bus was
Other Great Search Threads:
- We used to crawl sites from a handful of locations. It turns out it's mostly a waste of resources. Also, it's super-annoying to see a result in search that's very different when you click on it., John Mueller on Twitter
- Yes, it's annoying, but that's how it works. If a user from that location wouldn't be able to see the content, then Googlebot shouldn't see the content when crawling from there (and Googlebot probably crawls mos, John Mueller on Twitter
- AMP has that weird fake URL bar that sort of is the ancestor of that issue, but the URL bar is the cache URL. So it's sort of like phishing, but not very convincing :), Robin Berjon on Twitter
- Good job on finding & cleaning up those old issues! I don't see anything specific holding it back -- it seems like it's just ranking the way it would normally rank., John Mueller on Twitter
- If you're sure that the markup is correct, I wouldn't worry about "validate fix" -- over time our systems will reprocess the pages automatically, and see the updated markup. There's no need to force with "validate f, John Mueller on Twitter
- We don't always launch everything in all languages & locations., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 3 tips for optimizing your clients’ SEO in 2021
- Ads Creative Studio will consolidate Google’s various creative advertising tools
- Attend SMX Convert for actionable tactics to boost conversions
- Finally, Shopify site owners can edit their robots.txt files
- Instagram Reel ads are the new TikTok competitor; Monday’s daily brief
- Google simplifies YouTube ad creation for SMBs
- Video: John Shehata, the Global Vice President at Condé Nast on Search
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Duplicate Events in Google Analytics 4 and How to Fix them, Analytics Mania
- Get to know Google Analytics 4, Stryve Digital Marketing
Industry & Business
- Even creepier COVID tracking: Google silently pushed app to users’ phones, Ars Technica
- Sundar Pichai Faces Internal Criticism at Google, New York Times
- EU opens antitrust probe into Google's advertising unit, CNBC
- YouTube secures a big win in the EU over copyright, CNBC
Links & Content Marketing
- A Detailed Guide to Writing Listicle Articles, SEO Smarty
Local & Maps
- 8 Local Communication Bridges and 4 Experts to Help You Build Them, Moz
- Here to help more small businesses succeed, Google Blog
- Introducing new, limited-edition badges you can unlock over the next two months, Local Guides Connect
Mobile & Voice
- Google’s messaging mess: a timeline, The Verge
- Google app crashing after new update; here's how to fix, 9to5Google
SEO
- Google's Core Web Vitals update in coming. Here's what publishers need to know, WTF is SEO?
- On-Page SEO: The Complete Guide for 2021 [Interactive], Siege Media
- The Limits of SEO: What Search Engine Optimisation Isn't, SISTRIX
- What Google's FAQ Schema Update Means For Your SEO Strategy, Brodie Clark Consulting
PPC
- Celebrated Partners for April 2021, Microsoft Advertising
- Update to Advertiser Identity Verification Policy (June 2021), Google Advertising Policies Help
Feedback:
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