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.
Looks like there was yet another Google search algorithm ranking update this past weekend, but this seemed pretty big - Google did not confirm it. Google said it wants to do away with talking about "over 200" ranking factors because the number can be misleading. Google is testing a new look for the seller rating stars and ratings in the search results. Google said URL length is a very light weight ranking signal. Google said when it comes to having sponsored products on your site, it might make sense to disallow Google from seeing it. It was Google's 23rd birthday today and much more. I am offline Tuesday and Wednesday but I have a nice number of schedules stories for you all those days.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Big Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On September 24th and 25th
Once again, there may have been yet another Google search ranking algorithm update this past weekend. This is unconfirmed still but it seems like a very big update based on the tracking tools and some of the comments I saw from the community. The update, like I hinted to in my Friday video, started Friday morning, September 24th and really heated up through the day and into Saturday September 25th. It seemed to have cooled down a lot of Sunday, September 26th. - Google: 200+ Ranking Signals Figure Is Misleading
Google's John Mueller said that Google is trying to move away from the over 200 ranking signal number because they find it to be "kind of misleading." Misleading in that it is hard to quantify the number of ranking signals Google uses. - Google Tests Seller Rating Product Star Reviews Box Interface
Brodie Clark spotted another Google Search user interface test where the product reviews stars and ratings show up in a small box at the top right of the snippet. These seller ratings are not really from the structured data area and they do also show up in the "about this result" box. - Google: URL Length Is A Very Light Signal For Canonicalization
Earlier we reported that Google does not use URL length as a ranking factor. While that may be true, Google does use the URL length as a "very light" signal for canonicalization, said John Mueller of Google. - Google: Best To Not Have Sponsored Products In Category Pages Indexed
I asked John Mueller of Google about category pages that contain sponsored products. Does Google want sites to ensure Google cannot index those sponsored products. John Mueller said "some sites take care to prevent them from being indexed in various ways, which is probably a good practice." - Google's 23rd Birthday Logo - Happy Birthday Google
Today is Google's officially birthday, it's 23rd birthday. Oh boy are we all getting old. :) The Doodle, special Google logo, to celebrate is of a cake with a candle, that says 23 on it and it is animated with the Google logo - it is cute. - Vlog #139: Charley Spektor On Important Of Link Building For Home Depot
Charley Spektor is the co-founder of Saratoga B2B Group and has a very deep and rich career in digital marketing, from working at IDG, TechTarget, Cheapflights, and Stone Temple Consulting with Eric Enge who I also interviewed. At Stone Temple Consulting he ran the SEO team working on the Home Depot client. - Sergey Brin In Google's First Data Center 23 Years Ago
Urs Hölzle, Google's eighth employee and the current senior vice president of technical infrastructure and Google Fellow at Google, shared some old photos of Google's first data center, the contract the company signed for it and some more photos...
Other Great Search Threads:
- ... so it's likely that this format would not play a role in that regard. It would, however, be taken into account for Core Web Vitals/Page Experience, since that's measured across all visits. I can't ju, John Mueller on Twitter
- Well, that's an unexciting end of my comments. What can we do from Google's side to make this easier for all sides? IMO you're all trying to do the right thing: great sites for use, John Mueller on Twitter
- About this site coming to the padlock in Chrome, which will eventually become a Chevron -> Chrome will begin showing you Knowledge Graph style site information on its padlock icon https://t.co/kJZErOjrkV https://t.co/9O4eLhXi7, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
- Generally, yes. As long as the content shows up in the rendered HTML. You can check that in GSC by looking at the rendered HTML of the crawled page, Martin Splitt on Twitter
- Google > Mobile Another variation of "More Specific Searches" in the shape of "Refine this search". Query: new zealand Sending to: @rustybrick SIR CC: @MordyOberstein SIR. https://t.co/WMSnHjXRxS, Saad AK on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Facebook changes business ad options in reaction to iOS updates
- Data, data, data, data rockin’ everywhere; Friday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- 8 Free & Paid Google Analytics Alternatives, Semrush
- Measure Long-Term Metrics Like Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) Using Google Analytics, Reflective Data
Industry & Business
- Google Pushes to Overturn EU’s $5 Billion Antitrust Decision on Android, Wall Street Journal
- Google Seeks Search Deals For TikTok and Instagram Videos, The Information
- Jawbone patents lead to lawsuit against Google, 9to5Google
Links & Content Marketing
- 15 Key Statistics Designed to Guide Successful B2B Content Marketing Programs, KoMarketing
- Content Marketers Share Their Best Networking Tips for In-Person and Virtual Events, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- Apple Maps Street View: How to Use the Look Around Feature, Business Insider
- Google Maps Is a Godsend, Just Don’t Trust Everything It Says, AutoEvolution
- How to Use Images to Increase Leads [2 Local SEO Case Studies], Sterling Sky Inc
Mobile & Voice
- Facebook’s wearable glasses can succeed where Google Glass flopped, TechCrunch
- Google Assistant losing Issa Rae 'Cameo Voice' next week, 9to5Google
- Google clarifies Assistant Driving mode is baked into Android and that it’s coming soon, MobileSyrup
SEO
- Crawl Budget, Moz
- Healthcare Schema Markup: Evolution of the Physician Rich Result, Schema App
- 10 Mistakes in 10 Years in SEO (BrightonSEO - Sept 2021), Screaming Frog
PPC
- The future of attribution is data-driven, Google Blog
- Benefits of Using Multiple Google Ads Match Types, Cypress North
- 4 PPC Automation Tools You Should Be Using, Portent
- The Retail Holiday Season: Considerations for Paid Search, Merkle
Other Search
Feedback:
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