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 Creepy Search Algorithm Update Continues With Stronger Volatility
Earlier this month we reported about a Google algorithm update that happened Halloween night through November 1st and seems to be continuing on all week long. It is a creepy update that seems to be gaining momentum as the days go on. - Google: You Cannot Opt Out Of Mobile-First Indexing
Google's John Mueller stated the obvious, that you cannot opt out of the new mobile-first indexing process. John said on Twitter "Nope. The world has gone mobile already, we're just catching up" when asked about if there was an opt out. - Google Discover More Places Surges In Google
Google has a feature to discover more places for some local intent queries. According to RankRanger, the feature exploded in terms of how often it is shown, starting on October 24th. In the US, it increased by almost 130%, from about 3.5% of queries to about 7.9% of queries showing the feature. - Google: Don't Use Different Title Tags For Mobile & Desktop Pages
Do you know of web sites that use a strategy of showing a different title tag on the desktop version of a page, compared to the mobile version of that exact same page? Well, John Mueller of Google had to take a step back when someone asked about doing such a thing. - Google Ads Has New Ad Metrics To Help Clarify Ad Positions
Google is rolling out four new ad metrics to help clarify the position of the ads displayed in Google search. The new ad metrics are Impression (Absolute Top) % and Impression (Top) % and Search (Abs Top) IS and Search (Top) IS. - Google Street View Car Under Water
It is not every day where you would see a Google Street View Car. Now it is almost never a day that you'd see the Google Street View Car flooded underwater. Here is a picture of one of these cars sub
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- I think the biggest effect will be that you make maintenance / debugging so much harder than needed.…, John Mueller on Twitter
- Some of you may have noticed some changes in your Google Analytics. We are rolling out some minor styling updates to our navigation and UI. Happy analyzing!… https://t.co/GJHtM2xxMx, Google Analytics on Twitter
- Tim Berners-Lee wants to fix the web, 30 years on, WebmasterWorld
- Experiment: Official People search cards on YouTube, YouTube Help
- The x-robots-tag would need to be on the main HTML page, it wouldn't apply to just a part of the page. If you're pulling in the comments via JS, you could also just robots.txt disallow the comment response URL. That said, why, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Learn how distance and intent shape local search
- Bing Ads Scripts are rolling out in beta
- Cortana loses its chief after only 8 months
- Google Ads intros new ad position metrics
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Microsoft Cortana chief Javier Soltero is leaving, CNBC
- A Google Bus Killed a Pedestrian in Mountain View: Police, Gizmodo
- Protecting what we love about the internet: our efforts to stop online piracy, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
- 5 Tips to Run a Sustainable Link Building Campaign, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
- Getting Local Search Results in 2019: A Few Tips and Tricks, Raven Blog
- Google is testing crash and speed trap reporting in Maps, Android Police
Mobile & Voice
- Makeup a new look with Google Home Hub and Sephora, Google Blog
SEO
- 6 Great Tips for Christmas SEO, Hallam Internet
- Is There a Secret SEO Writing Formula?, SuccessWorks
- Types of SEO - White, Black and Grey Hat SEO, Daily Hawker
PPC
- Getting the Best Bang for Your Buck with Your Google AdWords Account, Search Engine Guide
- Work smart: Automate your tasks with scripts, Bing Ads Blog
