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.
Google has a confirmed Google Ads issue that may cause serving and budget issues, and yes, it is causing a lot of confusion and frustration. Google Search and Google Ads does not guarantee a click will lead to a conversion. Google does de-duplicate based on almost duplicates. Microsoft Bing is testing colored Sitelinks in search. Google Germany asks the reviewer before a review is removed after it was reported. I also posted the weekly SEO video recap filled with discussions of updates and more.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Ads Bug May Prevent Some Ads From Serving
Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, posted last night that Google Ads has an issue where some ads may not be served. "Google is aware of an internal issue impacting ads serving," she wrote. She said, "the impact of this issue may prevent ads from serving in certain circumstances for your account." - Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google's Overlapping Algorithm Updates, Product Reviews Update, Confusing HTTPS Report & Google Ads Serving Bug
In this week's video, we cover how Google said they try not to overlap search algorithm updates but then announced the rollout of the fifth product reviews update before the core update was done. We also dug into the product reviews... - Bing Tests Colored Sitelink Boxes
Microsoft Bing is testing background colors for the sitelinks section of the search result snippet. I am not sure I like this look but it does indeed make the sitelinks stand out a lot - what do you think? - Google Search & Google Ads Do Not Guarantee Conversions
Google's John Mueller and Ginny Marvin said that both on the organic search side and paid search ad side, Google does not guarantee clicks will lead to conversions. - Google De-Duplicates Search Results Based On Almost Duplicates
Google's John Mueller said Google Search will de-duplicate its search results based on almost duplicates. John said this on Twitter the other day when asked about canonicalizing international URLs. - Google Asks German Reviewers If They Object To Reported Reviews Being Removed
Did you know that in some countries, like Germany, if you report a review as being fake or spam, Google will email the reviewer about the objection and see if they respond? Mike Blumenthal spotted that in a Google Business Profile help thread. - Google Europaallee Space Looks Stunning...
Here is a photo from the new Google Europaallee office in Zurich that caught my eye. It looks like just a relaxing place to work or relax. This was shared on Instagram recently and I thought you'd al
Other Great Search Threads:
- There was none, is none, won't be one. You are likely seeing cache jitter or network timeouts. Neither has changed, so it's incidental., Martin Splitt on Twitter
- ... that's why when I see site-owners say "I don't like these search results" (implying "I don't see my site / sites like min, John Mueller on Twitter
- I came up with a cool regex-based implementation, it's pretty flexible and allows for programmatic SEO of internationalized domain-clusters. Unfortunate, John Mueller on Twitter
- Nice to see Google Ads ranks so well for [google seo] - helpful?, Barry Schwartz on Twitter
- Over the years, I've found a lot of things fall into "it depends" -- there are situations where 1 big is better, or worse than 35 small things. Personally, I'm a, John Mueller on Twitter
- The lang-attribute is just English everywhere, people copy & paste it from templates, it feels like a particularly bad choice to level-up as a signal. W, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- New Google issue may affect ad serving
- How to define SERP intent and ‘source type’ for better analysis
- 4 dos and don’ts of a digital marketing apprenticeship
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- 10 Secret Google Tag Manager (GTM) Features You Should Use, Measure Minds Group
- Is The Google Analytics 4 Certification Worth It?, Data Driven U
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
- 6 Exceptional Content Marketers (and the Traits That Make Them Stand Out), Content Marketing Institute
- Your B2B Influencer Marketing Program Checklist, Online Marketing Blog
- How to Write a Blog Post Outline (7 Simple Steps), Ahrefs
Local & Maps
- Google Maps has made a heartwrenching change following the Queen's death, The Sun
- You Can Curate Lists of Your Favorite (or Frequent) Locations in Google Maps, Lifehacker
Mobile & Voice
- Apple AirPods Sales Bode Well for VR Headset, Bloomberg
- Google now offers a cheaper, 1080p version of the Chromecast with Google TV, Engadget
- How to remove the search button from iOS 16, AppleInsider
SEO
- 5 Ways Programmatic SEO Can Generate Growth, iPullRank
- Does Google Favor Brands Regardless of SEO?, BruceClay
- How To Avoid Google Penalties & Algorithm Updates According to SEO Expert Lily Ray, Niche Pursuits
- SEO Split Test Result: Will Adding Emojis to the Meta Description Help or Hurt Your SEO?, Semrush
- Advanced SEO Tasks when Working with Wix, Semrush
- September 2022 Product Reviews Update - Data and Trends, SISTRIX
PPC
- Country targeting update for products in Content API for Shopping and Google Ads API, Google Ads Developer Blog
- The Power of Segmentation in Advertising, PPC Expo
Other Search
- Helping publishers grow their digital business, Google Blog
- Search interest in abortion falls as the border rises, Axios
- The early days of Google Search Central, Search Off the Record
Feedback:
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