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 Search Ranking Algorithm Disturbance On November 4th
Over the past few days there has been chatter within the SEO industry about a possible Google Search ranking algorithm update. It may have started around November 3rd and continued through November 4th and today, November 5th. Google has not confirmed anything but between the SEO chatter and the tracking tools - there may have been a disturbance in the force. - Google One-On-One On Why Rankings Go Up But Traffic & Clicks Down
Valerie Stimac, a travel blogger, complained on Twitter that while her site's content is ranking better than ever in Google Search, the traffic numbers from Google Search are down. She wrote "this is a classic case of Google's erosion of organic traffic: position is UP in the current period over last year, but CTR is down, impressions are down almost 50%, and clicks are down 70%!" - For Google To Publish Content, It Requires A Code Push
Google said that when it publishes content on its sites, like the developer documents (or maybe even blog), it requires a code push for it to deploy on the site. That does not surprise me at all that Google does not use a CMS platform for this part. - Google: Home Page Outranking Internal Pages For Deeper Keywords
John Mueller from Google was asked why does Google sometimes rank a home page for a specific keyword phrase when there is a deeper page in the site that answers that query better. The home page is more generic and covers a wider topic but there is a more specific page to better answer the query off the home page. - Google Search Console Misclassified Discover As Video Performance Data
Google has documented that on October 28, 2020 it has, in some cases, misclassified some Google Discover data as video in the Performance report after it has been fixed. This may result in "a drop in your Discover report's video appearance statistics," Google said. - Google Analytics Team Did An Escape Game In A Space Bus?
In February 2019 I found this photo of where I think some of the folks from the Google Analytics team went to EscapeSF, an escape room game facility in San Francisco. This is a photo of them in what t
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- A couple of things interesting here: 1) Google showing "map is approximate" and asking if the place is located within another place (?) Kinda similar to when Google asks for content accuracy in the panel. https://t.co/dYQ8, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
- All of that sounds completely normal. Things can change in search, and ranking on page 1 for queries is not something that happens automatically or immediately. (Sometimes it never happens.), John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How VF Corp made the single customer view a reality
- COVID helped drive record ad revenue for big tech in Q3
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Breaking up Google and the rest of Big Tech wouldn't be enough to fix our innovation problems, MarketWatch
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- 10 Expert Tips to Optimize Your Google Local Advertising, WordStream
- Google My Business Category Changes, Sterling Sky
Mobile & Voice
- Android Auto tweaks its Google Assistant UI yet again, 9to5Google
- Google's Screenwise Meter app and its rewards program are now dead, Android Police
- Nest Audio could be used as 'home theater sound system', 9to5Google
SEO
- Core Web Vitals and the News Industry - The End of Fake News?, State of Digital
- Google Understands An Author Style Well Enough to Imitate It, Go Fish Digital
- What is Barnacle SEO?, SEM Rush
PPC
- Key product updates for November, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
