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 Featured Snippets With Data Overlay Links To Other Sites
Google is testing a new feature in featured snippet results that overlay data elements from other web sites, not the site in the featured snippet. The featured snippet shows a dotted underline, that when you scroll your mouse cursor over, it overlays content from a different site. - Google Local Packs May Roll Out X Years In Business Label
Over the past couple of days, I have been getting a lot of notifications from folks that they are now seeing Google show the number of years a business has been in operation directly in the local pack. We've covered this a month or so ago, but it might be soon rolling out. - Google: You Can't Force GoogleBot To Crawl You Over HTTP/2
As you know, Google began crawling some sites over HTTP/2 this month. While you can opt out of this, i.e. GoogleBot crawling your site over HTTP/2, you cannot opt in to it, at least not now. John Mueller of Google said on Twitter "we don't manually pick sites for trials like that, it's more about whether it's possible & makes sense for crawling." - Google: Others Copying Your Content Wouldn't Results In Your Pages Rank Lower
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that just because someone is copying your content, that doesn't mean your pages will rank lower in Google Search. He said "others copying your content wouldn't be reason for your pages to rank lower." - NY Times & Other Publishers Dislike Google's Quotes In The News Box
There are a number of publishers, including Anna Dubenko, the Deputy Audience Director at The New York Times, who are not happy how Google shows that "Quotes In The News Box." The issue is, she said, the quotes can be taken out of context because Google is not showing enough context. - Google Guaranteed Badge Displays On Google Local & Maps Results
Last week Google began testing showing the Google Guaranteed badge in the Google Local pack and Google Maps listings for some businesses. Joy Hawkins first reported this on November 18th and others do seem to have seen it after. - The New GooglePlex - Google Dome
Here is a photo of the new Google building near the original GooglePlex. The guy who took the photo is named Hillel Steinberg and he called it the Google Dome. He posted this photo on Instagram and wr
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Noticed Google is testing the recipe Collections feature on desktop. From what I've seen, this was previously only accessible via smart display and in your Google app on Android. Google documentation still says this (th, Brian Freiesleben on Twitter
- We purposely only did things that "normal users" would be able to do. On Blogger, you can't 301 redirect like this. Luckily, Google can process JavaScript fairly well :)., John Mueller on Twitter
- I'm not sure how new this is but I'm seeing a little phone icon on Google Maps (that triggers a call when you click it). It appears when you hover over the phone number. https://t.co/fngc8zqItm, Joy Hawkins on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How DuckDuckGo (and Microsoft) benefit from Google’s sprawling advertising business
- Don’t miss Search Marketing Expo online December 8-9
- Social Shorts: YouTube expands ad inventory, Twitter launches Fleets, more
- Video: Elie Orgel on using data to create pages that get links
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Local & Maps
- Did Local Packs really grow in 2019?, Kevin Indig
- Make your own turkey trot with Google Maps, Google Blog
- Apple Maps adding public transit directions in Austria, AppleInsider
Mobile & Voice
- “The Mandalorian” in AR? This is the way., Google Blog
- Stop, drop and pass the rolls! Thanksgiving fun with Google, Google Blog
- Waze for iOS testing support for CarPlay's dashboard mode in beta, 9to5Google
SEO
PPC
- How to Boost PPC ROI with Call Tracking & Conversation Intelligence, Search Engine Journal
- How to Implement Pay-Per-Click the Right Way, Entrepreneur
Search Features
