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:
- Search Buzz Video Recap: Confusing Google Search Fluctuations, Many Google Bugs & How Google Core Updates Work
This week was an interesting one, we had a huge amount of Google search ranking fluctuations according to the tracking tools but overall the chatter within the SEO community was not all that much. Google had a bug with news... - Google Merchant Center Additional Countries Setting Is Coming
Google said by the end of this month you will need to control global product availability in your product feed. You can apply the shipping attribute to products directly in the feed or specify countries by using the "additional countries" feature. This applies to both Shopping ads and free listings, Google said. - Can Cheap Hosts With Many Low Quality Sites Can Hurt Your Google Rankings?
Recently an interesting experiment was published on Reboot Online that says cheap hosting with low-quality, spammy bad neighborhoods of sites, can actually impact Google rankings. But John Mueller of Google disputed this study saying it is not really true and it doesn't work that way at Google. - Google Search Feature Online Therapy Providers
John Vantine shared a screen shot of Google showing an "online therapy" box in the search results that helps you find options for therapy that is covered by your insurance. I can replicate, so it does seem to be live, at least in the US. - Gift Cards Can't Be Sold On Google Shopping With Buy on Google
Google has updated its gift card policy in the Google Merchant Center to disallow the sale of gift cards using Buy on Google starting on September 30, 2020. Google said "Beginning September 30, Google will be changing the gift card category policy to prohibit the sale of gift cards on Buy on Google." - Google Logo On Spare Tire Cover
Here is a van, actually the Google Research Van, with a Google logo on its spare tire cover. Everyone needs to have their company logo on a spare tire cover. Without it, can you really call your comp
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- TV in Reach Planner now available in 5 more countries, Google Ads Help
- Yep. I mean: You can self-canonicalize both, but we'll likely treat them as duplicates and pick one or the other anyway :), Martin Splitt on Twitter
- Australia to Amend Proposed Law Making Google & Facebook Pay for News, WebmasterWorld
- I wanna say no, because we would have to request something for counting it in "crawl budget", but I'll confirm with the Googlebot team. I'll get back to you if the answer is different th, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- Outbound links can be a useful part of a website for your users. You know your users & your content best. Don't be afraid of linking to other sites., John Mueller on Twitter
- There are lots of Google products, they can be good even if they're not perfect for Search. You could host content on Google Spreadsheets, but it's not going to be great for SEO. Use & combi, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- A new era has arrived in local search: Google’s Local Trust Pack
- SMX is Coming to You in December 2020: Be a Part of it!
- This decade’s most important marketing question: What data rights do advertisers possess?
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How To Maximize Google Analytics Metrics as a Web Designer, Webinar
- Predict Churn and Purchase Probability in Google Analytics App + Web, CMSWire
- First Click Vs Last Click Attribution In Google Analitycs And Google Ads, Koozai
- Server-Side Tagging in Google Tag Manager: What is It?, Seer Interactive
Industry & Business
- Helping global publishers accelerate business growth, Google Blog
- Facebook and Google under pressure to stop targeting ads at teens, The Drum
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
- Apple HomePod and Siri multi-user support explained, Gearbrain
- Kargo and AMP Project Partner To Bring Optimized Mobile Creative To AMP, The AMP Blog
- Mobile App Stores and Crypto, AVC
SEO
- 3 Ways to Use Google Trends for Marketing, Seer Interactive
- How to Conduct an SEO SWOT Analysis, Seer Interactive
- Online tutorial: How to set up an SEO forecast for free using Excel, Vertical Leap
- Track These 3 SEO KPIs to Make Better Marketing Decisions, Ahrefs
- Task Search Suggestions at Google, Go Fish Digital
- The Theory Behind Ranking Factors — Whiteboard Friday, Moz
- What is a Web Crawler? (In 50 Words or Less), Jaan Kanellis
PPC
- How to power live event advertising with Ad Manager’s Dynamic Ad Insertion, Google Blog
- PPC Conversion Tracking: What is it and what can you measure?, Ruler Analytics
Search Features
- How we’re helping military spouses find job success, Google Blog
- Making data useful for public health, Google Blog
