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 Caches JavaScript & CSS Files For A Long Time & Why That Matters
Google's John Mueller confirmed on Twitter that Google does cache your JavaScript and CSS files for a "fairly long" time and thus, if those files change what content shows up on the page or what new URLs you produce, then that might be an issue for your SEO strategy. - Google My Business Products Beta Lets You Add Products To Your Local Listings
Last week we showed how Google added a products and services section to the local listings in Google. Now I see reports of Google showing a beta tab in Google My Business to add your own products. It seems related to what we reported back in August with a new products tab for the local panels. - Old Google Search Console Sitemap Bug With Mobile-First Indexing
Google's John Mueller said in a Google Webmaster Help thread that there is a bug with the Sitemaps reporting section of the old Google Search Console specifically with sites that moved to mobile-first indexing. John said it is jut a reporting bug and does not impact how the site or content ranks in Google search. - Google: Putting Out More Content Doesn't Make Your Site Better
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that putting out more content doesn't necessarily make your web site any better, nor does it necessarily make your web site rank higher in Google's search results. - Google Cache Bug With Mobile-First Indexing Now Fixed
It looks like Google has fixed that ongoing bug with the Google cache 404ing after being switched to mobile-first indexing. The bug has been happening for the past several months and as of last Saturday, it seems Google fixed it. - Google Caught Me Buying Links (Framed)
Here is a fun picture for the day - here is Ryan Jones from WTFSEO who handed me two dollars and asked me to take a picture of him handing it to me. Gary Illyes caught sight of it on Twitter and repo
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- I don't think you'd see any advantage of using more than one method of making lazy-loaded images get recognized. I'd pick one, and make it work :)… https://t.co/nzPwbPtSeA, John Mueller on Twitter
- Misconfigured URLs and Google Search Index., WebmasterWorld
- Nah, we don't have recommendations on this, it falls into the do-whichever-you-can bucket. I think it's just common sense as you said and really, what i said was just pointing that out 🙃… https://t.co/FmeUAcIGnO, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- Yeah, it's fine to keep them separate (we process the sitemap data when we reprocess the URL, so it doesn't matter which sitemap file it's in); I'd also focus on maintenance & debugability; keep it simple, hreflang is hard eno, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Bing Ads changes when conversions are reported
- Google local pack now showing book, schedule buttons for some businesses
- SEO agencies – Important questions to ask before choosing one
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Joining Google Analytics Data to Other Data for Fun & Profit, Seer Interactive
- Annelieke's Analytics: How Google Analytics wants to help you, Yoast
Industry & Business
Local & Maps
- Get charged up with Google Maps, Official Google Australia Blog
- Preparing Images for the (Coming?) Google Mobile Local Carousel, Mike Blumenthal
- So You Want to Appear in Google’s Local Travel Guide?, SEM Rush
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- 8 Tactics To Add Holiday Spirit To Your SEO And Digital Marketing This Year, Authority Labs
- 3 Social Media Strategies that Boost SEO, Stone Temple
- How to Get More Keyword Metrics for Your Target Keywords, Moz
PPC
- What’s New in PPC?, Receptional Ltd
- Apple looking at $2 billion from Search Ad business alone by 2020, Apple Insider
- Finding Your Paid Social Audience Persona, Seer Interactive
Other Search
- Three Years of AMP!, Accelerated Mobile Pages Project
