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:
- Vlog #5: Rand Fishkin On Google Anti-Competitive, Ranking Studies, EAT & YMYL & Bing (Part Two)
In our fifth vlog episode I was in Seattle for Mozcon and I asked Rand Fishkin (@randfish) if I can interview him for my new vlog series. He invited me to his home/office, aka ShedToro, and despite some angry bees, I think the interview went pretty well. This is part two of a two part interview, here we discuss Google being anti-competitive, ranking studies, EAT & YMYL SEO and Microsoft Bing. - Google Treats Links Within Primary Content & Boilerplate Content Differently
Google's John Mueller was asked if Google counts the first link on a page at the same level as the second link on a page. This is a topic that goes back over ten years in the SEO debate space. In any event, John ignored that question and then went on to explain it is more about primary vs boilerplate content. - Google #AskGoogleWebmasters: Is Linking Out Is Good Or Bad For SEO?
Google's John Mueller's first #AskGoogleWebmasters launched Friday afternoon and was on the question of does linking to other websites help or hurt SEO? The whole video, with the intro and ending was less than two minutes - so these short clips are nice. - Google: You Can Write Out Inches Or Use Inch Sign
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter, - whatever - you can use either the inch sign when saying something is 10" or you can can write it out and say something is 10 inches. It doesn't matter, Google doesn't prefer either option. - Google Search Console Notices For Removing Noindex Robots.txt
Google is now sending out notices to those webmasters who have a noindex directive in their robots.txt file. Google Search Console is sending out notices that they should be removed because it is not something Google will support after September 1, 2019. - Google Science Fair
Here are some photos from a science fair held at Google's offices, I believe, over the weekend. I think Google has an annual science fair and gives out lego trophies, and more, to the winners.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- We only pick the best ones. :), John Mueller on Twitter
- What are you doing on August 6? We have a Webmaster Conference in Bali and we still have a few spots left, just saying. 👀 https://t.co/J1Nsmpu96f, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- FWIW the search console tool just hides the URLs in search, it doesn't remove them from the index. I'd still set up redirects to an error page that returns 404. JS redire, John Mueller on Twitter
- I'd strongly recommend hosting your website on your own domain name, if you can. That gives you control for the long run, and lets you move to other platforms if you wish. It's a small investment, an, John Mueller on Twitter
- Seeing a test within "Interesting Finds" that offers a series of related content via expandable tabs that reveal a carousel of articles when expanded. cc: @rustybrick #mobileSEO https://t.co/2i4mZOVySA, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Back to Basics: Do outbound links matter for SEO?
- Google ad revenue growth popped back in Q2
- Low mobile page speed scores may be killing your traffic
- Google shortnames bug persists despite Google insisting it’s fixed
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to Use Google Data Studio to Automate Post-Publish Content Review, Clear Path Online
Industry & Business
- Helping Australian consumers, businesses and publishers, Official Google Australia Blog
- Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Wants Xbox to Conquer Cloud Gaming, Fortune
Links & Promotion Building
Local & Maps
- Here's How Apple Maps Is Taking on Google Maps in Your Car, Tom's Guide
- Yelp’s New Ad Products Can Increase Potential Customer Engagement by 38%, The Daily Beast
Mobile & Voice
- Apple contractors 'regularly hear confidential details' on Siri recordings, The Guardian
- Google Assistant routines are my digital nanny, Android Central
- Google is phasing out the old Voice Search in favor of Assistant, Engadget
SEO
- Is SEO Best Practice the Enemy of Success?, Search Engine Journal
- SEO: Analyzing Googlebot Crawls for Problems, Inefficiencies, Practical Ecommerce
PPC
- Badshah's Paagal: How To Be A Superstar With Help From Google Ads, Bloomberg
- Does PPC Make The World A Better Place?, PPC Hero
Search Features
- Is Mobile Pagination About to Make a Comeback?, Brodie Clark Consulting
- What if Bing Became the Free Speech Search Engine?, WebProNews
