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 Tests Favicons In Autocomplete Search Suggestions For Local Results
Google seems to be testing showing favicons or company logos in the autocomplete search suggestions for some local results, specifically brands. Someone posted a screen shot of this in action in the Local Search Forums, here it is: - Google Ads Tests Product Image Rotation On Hover
Jackson Lo shared a video-cast of a set of Google Shopping Ads that shows the product image change and rotate to a new product image when you hover your mouse over the image. He shared a video of it in action on Twitter, but here is a shorter GIF of this: - Google: Links From Wikipedia Does Nothing For Your Site & Has No SEO Value
Google's John Mueller said on Reddit that links from Wikipedia not only have no SEO value but also those links "will do nothing for your site" from a Google search perspective. In fact, John said all you are doing is "creating extra work for the Wikipedia maintainers who will remove your link drops." - Google Does Have Snippet Controls For Retailers In Search But They're Not New
On Friday Google posted a new blog post about an old feature that confused some in thinking what Google was talking about was new. In short, Google told me the reason the company posted about it was because they wanted to remind retailers before the holiday season of these controls but confirmed there were no new features being launched on Friday. - Google Virtual Webmaster Unconference Confirmations Needed
If you were lucky enough to get into the Google Virtual Webmaster Unconference that became sold out within hours, then make sure you check your email to fill out the confirmation. If you do not fill it out, your spot may be given up to those on the waitlist trying to get in. - Vlog #81: Pam Auugst On SEO Automation & Don’t Feed Google Everything In XML Sitemaps
Pam Auugst from Pam Ann Marketing came to my office just a few days before New York went officially on lock down over the COVID-19 pandemic. We were keeping a distance before the official CDC guidelines came out, it is still crazy to me how bad things got since then... - Cool Google Game Room With Pool & Ping Pong Tables
I know there are much larger spaces at Google offices with more games but this one, the decor I guess, seems cooler. I do not know which Google office this is in but you can see a darkish room with a
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- The description meta tag is generaly used for the snippet that's shown in search. Not everything has to be a ranking factor in order to be useful., John Mueller on Twitter
- The general idea is to write naturally. There is no limit. There is no formula to focus on. Write your content for users., John Mueller on Twitter
- We didn't delete the video results. They still show where our algorithms determine that they might be relevant to users' queries., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Analytics for Android now displays App+Web and Firebase properties (APK Download), Android Police
Industry & Business
- Alphabet Weighed Buying Small TikTok Stake as Part of Group Bid, Bloomberg
- Interview: Two experts weigh in on Epic's lawsuit against Apple, iMore
Links & Content Marketing
- 10 Big Benefits of Content Marketing You Can’t Ignore, Siege Media
- A Full Guide to Broken Link Building, SEM Rush
Local & Maps
- Apple Maps trials updated maps for UK and Ireland, Appleinsider
Mobile & Voice
- Gboard rolling out 'System Auto' theme in beta, 9to5Google
- Google Assistant Snapshot offering YouTube Music playlists, 9to5Google
SEO
- An SEO Guide for Automating Screaming Frog with Python, Rocket Clicks
- Options for retailers to control how their crawled product information appears on Google, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
- Small Business SEO: 10 Local and Affordable Strategies, SEM Rush
- The Importance Of Product Descriptions, Koozai
PPC
- Google releases AdMob for Android on the Play Store, 9to5Google
- Dynamic search ads now available in new markets, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
- Understanding View Selection for Contrastive Learning, Google AI Blog
