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 Recipe Bug Continues Into Thanksgiving Cooking Season
Earlier this month, we reported that Google has been investigating a bug with its recipe rich results where the images would disappear from the recipe results. This can obviously be devastating in terms of click through rates and traffic to those sites with these recipes. The worst part, it is now the Thanksgiving cooking season and it is still not fixed. - Google: We Thought About Engineers Competing To Rank Web Sites In Search But...
Would it be valuable for Google's own engineers, the ones that work on search, compete to rank their own test web sites in Google search? Probably not but it might be good for them to have real world experience with building their own web sites, John Mueller of Google said on Twitter. - Google: We Don't Generally Make Up URLs On Your Web Site
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that generally Google will not make up URLs to index on your web site. So if you find weird parameters at the end of the URLs showing up in the Google index for your web site, Google probably found someone linking to that URL. Either you have some pages that link that way or someone on a third-party site does. - Most SEOs Say Awareness Of The Science Information Retrieval Is Important
Dawn Anderson, an SEO who likes to listen to professors and PhDs give lectures about how search works, posted a poll asking if the SEO community thinks awareness of IR (information retrieval) is important or not for SEOs. Most SEOs said it is important. - Google Tests Arrows By Titles In Search Result Snippets
Google is testing a small search results experiment where it is showing an arrow by the title of the snippets in the search results. Sergey Alakov spotted this and shared a screen shot of it on Twitter. Here is that screen shot: - Google Detroit Car Emblems Logo
Here is a photo from the Google Detroit office decorated with a bunch of car logos and emblems. You can see the , Ford, AMC, DMC and Chrysler logos on this G logo. I found this on Instagram.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Recent Study 3.6 min acceptable rating & 4.9 being most optimal, Local Search Forum
- Spacing out GMB photo uploads, Local Search Forum
- AFAIK the CrUx data is based on what people saw on their devices, so if you're showing them AMP versions, that's what it would include. Per-page testing is per-page. For Search w, John Mueller on Twitter
- We can't index all URLs that we come across -- so that can be completely normal., John Mueller on Twitter
- Yep, that's a good example of something worth explaining to clients, regarding how things are documented and supposed to work., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Maps the dominant local search tool, followed by Facebook and Yelp
- Google Ads conversion reporting bug (mostly) fixed
- Getting the most out of limited YouTube creative during the holiday season
- Nearly 60% prefer PC to smartphones for local search survey finds, but there’s a catch
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Are You Ready for Google Analytics 360?, DELVE
- Linking Analytics and Ads: The solution to today’s marketing challenges, Google
Industry & Business
- Google fires employee activist amid protests, Engadget
- Microsoft CEO Is Fortune Businessperson of the Year, Fortune
Links & Promotion Building
- How to Turn Unlinked Brand Mentions Into Links, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
- 3 new Apple Maps features you should try now -- and how to use them, CNET
- 7 Google Maps tips for stress-free Thanksgiving travel, CNET
- Google Possum 2.0 update - your questions answered, Vertical Leap
- Should I Take Ranking Advice From Google My Business (GMB) Support?, Sterling Sky Inc
Mobile & Voice
- (Update: Official) Google Assistant Ambient Mode arrives on more phones, brings smart display features, Android Police
- The Simpsons Spoof Voice Assistants and Smart Speakers on Thanksgiving Episode, Voicebot
SEO
- Google Search News for November 2019, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
- Podcasts & SEO: How to Make Your Podcast SEO-Friendly, Search Engine Journal
- User-Specific Knowledge Graphs to Support Queries and Predictions, SEO By The Sea
- SEO for Brand Reputation Management: In Search SEO Podcast, RankRanger
PPC
- 3 Handy Google Ads Scripts to Automate Tasks, Practical Ecommerce
- 8 Red Flags to Look Out for in the Interview Process, PPC Hero
- eMarketer US Search Ad Revenues 2019, eMarketer
