Daily Search Forum Recap: July 2, 2020

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:

• July 2020 Google Webmaster Report
  It is time for the monthly Google Webmaster Report where I sum up the more important organic Google topics for SEOs and webmasters. The big news is that Google had some unconfirmed algorithm updates and one was big that had a larger impact on government sites. Google is going to be removing counterfeit goods from organic search. Google Shopping is going free, even on Google.com.
• GoogleBot Is Able To Add Products To Your Shopping Cart
  As I covered at Search Engine Land last night, according to a Wall Street Journal article, Google confirmed that it has systems that automatically will add products to your e-commerce site's shopping cart. It does this to verify the price merchants give them matches what is found in the shopping cart.
• Google AdSense Third Party Ad Technology Vendors
  Google announced that AdSense now allows ads from additional third party ad technology vendors to show through your account. Google said that this can "potentially lead to higher earnings." But you can control these with new settings under the blocking controls section.
• Are Link Attributes All About SEO? Check This Data From Google.
  John Mueller of Google said on Twitter "people make all kinds of links, and we ignore a lot of links, but at their core, links are not about SEO anyway." He then shared a spreadsheet of the results of the link attributes from the HTTP Archive that he grabbed a while back.
• Google: CLS Is Measured Through The Entire Lifecycle Of The Page
  Google's new ranking algorithm that launches next year, the Page Experience Update, has metric named CLS, Cumulative Layout Shift. It checks to see if things on the page jump around as it loads. Philip Walton, a Senior Developer Programs Engineer at Google, said that this is measured throughout the entire lifecycle of the page.
• Google NYC LEGO Micro Kitchen Sign
  We've seen some photos of the actual Google New York LEGO micro kitchen, in fact, I've been in it a few times. But here is the sign for it that hangs not too far from the LEGOs. Notice it is in 4E20

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• "Penalizing" is so old school. It's more likely our algorithms become sentient and ignore them all while rolling their virtual eyes., Gary Illyes on Twitter
• Web Stories are coming to WordPress! The first public beta is now available (for the adventurous) to install & test. 👉🏽 More info here: https://t.co/KYUwyF8h8j https://t.co/55qKNX1c4s, Paul Bakaus on Twitter
• The transcript is out for the @methode @JohnMu @g33konaut podcast https://t.co/VD8Ap0Z2CL, Barry Schwartz on Twitter
• Yes. Geotargeting doesn't block your site from appearing in the search results in other countries., John Mueller on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

• WSJ: GoogleBot can add products to shopping carts
• SEL 20200701
• CCPA enforcement begins now and most companies aren’t ready
• 6 fundamental SEO truths to live by
• Facebook Ads boycott: What will be the measure of success?
• What publishers need to consider before dropping AMP [Video]
• Ad fraud prevention firm CHEQ enters PPC market

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• 5 Google Analytics key metrics you should check, Amazee Metrics
• Making Google Optimize More Effective with Double Blind Testing, MightyHive
• Using 6 Google Analytics Features to Improve User Experience and Website Metrics, Design Modo

Industry & Business

• Google stymies media companies from chipping away at its data dominance, Reuters
• UK regulators could break up Apple and Google's billion-dollar search engine deal, 9to5Mac

Links & Content Marketing

• BruceClay - Paid Guest Posts: More Proof That It’s Bad for Business, BruceClay

Local & Maps

• Google Maps Update Brings Surprise Interface Makeover on Android Auto for Phones, AutoEvolution
• Israeli Military Launches Radical New Google Maps Alternative, Forbes

Mobile & Voice

• AMP as a Service: 2020 Roadmap, The AMP Blog
• Even compared to the 'new' Siri, Google Assistant wins, 9to5Google
• How to correctly measure the success of your AMP pages, The AMP Blog

SEO

• Google Algorithm Update Analysis: June 18th 2020, Sam Underwood
• How Headings Help SEO, DealerOn
• Integrating SEO within the Product Triangle To Align Efforts & Maximize Impact, Aleyda Solis
• Learn about the three Core Web Vitals: LCP, FID & CLS, Yoast
• The Foolproof Guide to Redirects, iPullRank

PPC

• The Basics of Using SEO and PPC Together, BrightEdge