Daily Search Forum Recap: July 8, 2024

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.

I'm seeing more Google Search weekend volatility - something is up (or down). I posted some YouTube SEO topics, where Google said traffic sources only affect the same traffic sources. Google Search Console has/had a new owner notification bug. Google updated its URL best practices document around fragments in URLs. Google Maps has this new "add stop" advertisement. Google says if you are ranking for unrelated keywords, maybe try to be little more clear with your content.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• July 4th Weekend Google Search Ranking Update & Volatility
  Surprise, surprise, it was another weekend and we again see some more than usual ranking volatility from Google Search. Again, this reminds me of the weekend ranking bug Google had late last year into early this year. But who knows, maybe it is just a ranking system that shuffles things up for weekend searchers?
• YouTube Traffic Sources Affect Same Traffic Sources, Not Different Traffic Sources
  I don't cover YouTube SEO here much but I found a post from the YouTube Liaison talking about how traffic sources are impacted. In short, the YouTube home page recommendations are affected by viewers watching videos from the home page and not affected by external views, people watching your videos on an external site.
• Google URL Best Practices Updated: Don't Use Fragments To Change Page Content
  Google has updated its URL structure best practices for Google Search help documentation to tell us again to not use URL fragments to change the content on that page. Google added this line, "Don't use fragments to change the content of a page, as Google generally doesn't support fragment URLs. If you're using JavaScript to change content, use the History API instead."
• Google Maps Add Stop Advertisements
  Did you know that Google Maps can suggest that you add a stop along the way as an advertisement or sponsored route along the way? It pops up as you are driving and asks you if you want to "Add stop" or "Cancel."
• Google: Ranking For Unrelated Keywords In Search? Make Your Titles & Content Clearer
  Have you ever had a site that ranks for unrelated keywords, queries you do not want to rank for? John Mueller from Google said if you do, maybe you should make your title and content clearer if they are too amibiguious.
• Google Search Console New Owner Notifications Bug?
  There are numerous reports of Google sending out email notifications about there being new owners added to your Search Console profiles. The new owner notification emails have been going out since Friday of last week or so and seem to be part of some bug.
• GooglePlex Outdoor Ski Lift
  Google loves their ski lifts and we've covered that many offices have them. Here is one at the GooglePlex at some event, it seems like a stationary one just so Googlers can take photos on it.

Other Great Search Threads:

• If you open a second location for your business relatively close to the first location, the first location tends to appear for branded searches even if the searcher is closer to the new location. This is a type of local filtering, Colan Nielsen on X
• The fresh data for this report is currently being reprocessed, and is likely to take at least 2-3 days to fully catch up. We'll let you know here when it's fully resolved. Thanks for your patience., Google Search Central on X
• Fact from a few days ago: you can have invalid lines in the robots.txt file and parsers won't care one bit, they'll just skip them., Gary Illyes on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google launches tool to simplify Enhanced Conversions setup
• Google streamlines product data management for merchants
• 11 of the best free tools every SEO should know about
• How to get more of what you want in SEO

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Reducing BigQuery Costs - Clustering the GA4 events table, Analytics Ninja

Industry & Business

• Deepwater's Gene Munster on why Google will win the AI arms race, CNBC
• Google Struggles to Lessen Reliance on Apple Safari, The Information

Links & Content Marketing

• Can a 1985 Marketing Playbook Fix Measurement Problems in 2024?, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Man rescued after following Google Maps 'shortcut', ABC 4
• Patent application shows cool new Google Maps feature for groups traveling to same destination, PhoneArena
• Exclusive perks for Google Play points members at Pokémon GO Fest 2024, Google Blog

Mobile & Voice

• Original HomePods, new iPads, and rumors of future iPhones, AppleInsider
• Apple Intelligence and a better Siri may be coming to iPhones this spring, The Verge
• PSA: Using Gemini breaks the Broadcast button in the Google Home app, Android Police
• Siri will gain Apple Intelligence improvements in spring 2025, AppleInsider

SEO

• Implementing Schema Markup on Multilingual Sites, Schema App Solutions
• SEO OKRs: Driving Performance & Measuring Impact, Ahrefs
• Square Zero: 5 Survival Tips for Better Keyword Research, TopRank
• Unlocking Growth Through Enterprise SaaS SEO, Ahrefs
• Geo-Visualisation of Googlebot's Crawling, Tame The Bots
• How To Perform Your Own EEAT Audit Through The Lens Of A Machine, Daniel K Cheung
• Optimizing for AI Overviews, Moz
• Digging into the Video Content Modules of Google’s API Leak, Women in Tech SEO
• Optimizing Product Variations for SEO, Neil Patel
• Sitemap Monitoring and Alerts for Pages Changed, Added or Removed, SEOTesting

PPC

• From Keywords to Conversations: Unveiling the Shift in Advertising, PPC Hero
• Mastering Google Ads Automation: Strategy, Structure, and Performance Insights, Data Driven U

Search Features

• Answer: How to find the best learning resources in a crowded field?, SearchReSearch

Other Search

• Baidu Upgrades Ernie AI Model, Cuts Pricing Further, Bloomberg
• Can An Employer See Your Bing Searches? How Microsoft's Search Engine History Works, SlashGear
• ChatGPT Code: Is the AI Actually Good At Writing Code?, IEEE Spectrum
• The Words That Give Away Generative AI Text, Wired
• Google claims new AI training tech is 13 times faster and 10 times more power efficient — DeepMind's new JEST optimizes training data for impressive gains, Tom's Hardware

Feedback:

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