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.
That Google Search Console data is going to be lost forever, Google cannot backfill the data lost in the performance report on August 23rd and 24th. Google has an internal tool to check site quality and more. Google says don't blindly replace your HTML title tags with the titles Google used. Google said content behind paywalls are not simply thin content. Google is testing an expandable carousel for sitelinks or snippets.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Console Performance Report Data Lost Completely
Last week, we reported that the performance report in Google Search Console for the dates of August 23rd and 24th had missing data. We were hoping Google would be able to retrieve and backfill the data, but it seems the data is lost forever and will not be backfilled. - Google Internal Tool To Check Site Quality
Google's John Mueller said a couple of weeks ago that he has internal tools to look at sites or pages and see if a site is low quality. He said this in the August 20th video hangout. - Google: Don't Blindly Replace Your HTML Title Tags With Google's Titles
So now there are some SEOs asking if it makes sense for you to replace your HTML title tag with the title Google selected to show in the Google search results. John Mueller from Google said no, don't just do that blindly - if it makes things better for your users, sure but don't assume Google's algorithms are right here. - Google: Content Behind Paywalls Is Not Automatically Thin Content
Google's John Mueller said that just because some content might be behind a paywall, it doesn't mean Google sees that content as thin content. Google allows content paywalls and will show them as much as it shows content not behind paywalls. So no, Google does not automatically treat paywalled content as thin content. - Google Tests Expandable Search Snippet Carousels
For the past couple of weeks, people have been showing me a feature in Google search that shows expandable snippets in a carousel format. Kind of like expandable sitelinks of some sorts. I thought I saw this before, but it was actually something Bing launched a few months ago, not something Google was testing. - Stan The Google Dinosaur Gets A Kiss
I've posted tons of photos of Stan, the Google dinosaur over the years. I've never seen a photo of Stan getting a kiss before. Megan, who does this super cool thing of trying something new each day,
Other Great Search Threads:
- Regarding queries leading to other countries: I'd love to see more examples of common queries where local content is the "right" result. Your first one imo is o, John Mueller on Twitter
- Search Console Only Recognizing 1 Sitemap in Sitemap Index : TechSEO, Reddit
- 25 years ago today grad students Sergey Brin & Larry Page set up a search engine that they called "BackRub". BackRub in 1996: 75 million indexed URLs Google in 2021: more than 130 trillion URLs https://t.co/dZoFTSF7Gl #GoogleHi, MIT CSAIL on Twitter
- Autogenerated content has been around for a long time. We mention it in our webmaster guidelines too. I'd consider these as tools, not as replacements for authors. Is using a CMS cheating vs m, John Mueller on Twitter
- Have you noticed that the reviews from OTAs have been excluded from hotels' Reviews information on Google?, Nevena Ivanova on Twitter
- Some sites do weird things with the dates / timestamps they give on provide (on purpose or accidentally), and sometimes we just have trouble understanding them. Sometimes there's also an unmentione, John Mueller on Twitter
- Sure - verify & remove is the fastest. Then remove the robots.txt disallow and let the noindex get seen. Or better: use server-side authentication / IP-allow-listing for the whole dev/staging serve, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google says title changes don’t impact rankings
- Four tools to check for title changes in the SERPs
- Choose the right keywords with these tips and tricks
- How Google and Yelp handle fake reviews and policy violations
- Trends behind the Google title tag changes; Monday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Introduction to Consent Mode in Google Tag Manager, Seer Interactive
- Low-hanging fruits Reports with Search Console and Data Studio, JC Chouinard
Industry & Business
- Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google Play Nice with Biden in the Post-Snowden Era, Bloomberg
- Google, Facebook, Microsoft top EU lobbying spending - study, Reuters
- South Korea passes ‘Anti-Google law’ bill to curb Google, Apple in-app payment commission, TechCrunch
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Blog Post Templates to Help You Write Great Content, Semrush
- 7 Content Marketing Tactics Every Small Business Should Steal, Red Canoe Media
Local & Maps
- Google Maps for Wear OS 3 keeps it simple [Gallery], 9to5Google
- How localism drives consumer brand engagement, Think with Google
- Wading Into Local SEO: 7 Absolute Beginner FAQs, Simply Answered, Moz
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant on KaiOS phones is losing some features, SlashGear
- If you want to automate all the things, try out Google Assistant’s new ‘Daylong routines’, Chrome Unboxed
- Is this the Siri of toilets? A pristine voice-operated public restroom, Fast Company
SEO
- Biggest 8 Google Algorithm Updates of 2021 (+SEO Tips), WordStream
- e-Commerce Case Study: The short and long-term ranking impact of removing long and fluff e-commerce category descriptions., GSQI
- Improving Local SEO of a Bakery to Boost Online Visibility, Semrush
- People Supporting SEOs, iPullRank
- Web performance and speed: the best techniques, OnCrawl
- What Is Duplicate Content and Why Is It a Problem?, I Love SEO
- 9.5 Ways Google Rewrites Your Title Tags, Moz
- Rankable Ep.49 - Product Led SEO, iPullRank
PPC
- DV360 In-Product Help Is Going Away - Now What?, Adswerve
- Q4 PPC Planning: Key Areas of Strategic Focus for Large Ecomm Brands, Clix Marketing PPC Blog
- The changing landscape of global travel, Microsoft Advertising
- Propensity to purchase and advertising results, Microsoft Advertising
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel or just contact us the old fashion way.
