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.
Sadly, it seems like we saw some significant tremors from the Google November 2021 core update on Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving - the worst possible timing for e-commerce retailers. Google also updated its help docs to say a mix of positive and negative reviews are expected for Google to trust them. Google has issued credits to advertisers impacted by the Shopping Ads CPC surge bug. Google Search Console crawl stats report had a bug where it was missing two days of data, it is now fixed. Google said links that are done for "as featured in" are normal. Google said semantic HTML is not a quality signal. Google search is doing more cool UI features for automotive searches. Google spoke about random bolding of sentences. We have a photo of the Thanksgiving Google Doodle and now the Chanukah decorations up up on Google Search.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google November 2021 Core Update Tremors On Thanksgiving
We are seeing big volatility again in the Google Search results as of yesterday and today, which might be the tail-end of the November 2021 Google core update. Yep, talk about timing - the Black Friday shopping is in high gear today and tomorrow. - Google: A Mix Of Positive & Negative Reviews More Trustworthy
Google has updated the Google Business Profiles Get Reviews help document to explicitly say that having a mix of positive and negative reviews are more trustworthy, than I guess just all positive reviews. Joy Hawkins spotted this and posted on Twitter saying "I know countless studies have shown this but it's nice to see Google acknowledge it too." - Google Issued Credits For Shopping Ads CPC Bug
Remember the Google Ads bug where CPC, cost per click, prices soared out of control on a Friday night? Well, about two weeks later, Google started to issue credits to those accounts that were impacted by the bug. - Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google November Core Update Continued, Search Console Redesign, Crawling Bugs & Google Ads Credits
Happy Thanksgiving - we had a surprise from Google again, where the second wave of the Google November 2021 core update happened on Wednesday and Thursday - yes, the busiest time for online shopping. Prior... - Google Search Console Crawl Stats Data Bug Missing Two Days Of Data
Google has another bug, this time with Google Search Console's crawl stats report. The report has a gap in the data, missing data on November 19th and November 20th. Google's John Mueller confirmed the issue and said on Twitter the team is working on a fix. - Google: As Featured On Links To Publications Are Normal Links
I am sure you've all seen websites that have a section on their website for "As Featured On" or something like that, then a carousel or listing of logos from those brands. Well, those links should not be feared, John Mueller from Google said putting those links on your site "sounds like a normal link." - Google: You Can Use The Same Website Theme Across Multiple Sites
Do you want to use the same design theme on multiple websites? Well, Google's John Mueller said it is fine to do that, in fact, he said many sites do share a similar or the same theme. - Google: Semantic HTML Is Not A Google Search Quality Signal
Google's John Mueller said that semantic HTML is not a quality signal used in Google Search for ranking purposes. An SEO said "Proper HTML semantics and tag hierarchy must be a quality signal." John Mueller responded saying "I don't see it as a quality signal." - Google Search Automobile Search Add Sliders & More Search Tools
A couple of months ago, Google upset the automotive industry by adding more data sets to its search results for automobiles. As a reminder, Google said it licensed that data. Google is seems to be expanding those search features with new sliders. - Google: Random Sentence Bolding For SEO
So now that we know that bolding works for SEO and rankings in 2021, we need to start bolding everything. Or maybe we need to be more random about our bolding efforts. Or maybe we need to really think about what we bold. In all seriousness, it is kind of funny how much we are talking about bolding things. - GooglePlex Autumn Fall Leaves
This might sound weird, but I thought there are no seasons in Mountain View, California - with the constant nice weather but I guess not. Don't get me wrong, I've been to this office both in the summ - History of Thanksgiving Google Doodle & Logo
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I am starting my coverage a bit late and I will try to keep it a bit slow today... Here is the Google Doodle for the History of Thanksgiving Google logo for Thank - Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2021
I've been checking for the past week, multiple times per day, and just now, Google has launched the Chanukah/Hanukkah decorations for the 2021 season. Chanukah starts this Sunday night, so I was expecting it to come soon and it is here.
Other Great Search Threads:
- I think this is new - you can plot your custom columns at the top of the page now. #ppcchat https://t.co/55MaUP3RUZ, Greg on Twitter
- The cache is not necessarily representative of what's indexed, it's not meant to be used for diagnosing indexing., John Mueller on Twitter
- Can you hide your website in Google Search, while still letting users access it? In this episode of #AskGooglebot, @JohnMu dives into password protection, blocking crawling, and blocking indexing to keep your s, Google Search Central on Twitter
- Did you know that one website’s XML Sitemaps can be hosted on another site, as long as both properties are verified in GSC? ✅ It’s a perfectly valid practice called “cross-site submission”. Very useful for agencies when it, Max Prin on Twitter
- Do you work as an SEO in news media and usually plan editorial events? Do you use Google Trends to do this job? Are you sure you are using it in the best possible way?, David Esteve on Twitter
- One of the most frustrating things doing tech SEO is when you: 1. Get 10,000s of URLs out of the index as they are low-value 2. Block with the robots.txt to save Google crawling them all 3. Google decides to index, Sam Underwood on Twitter
- TBH I appreciate all the "beginner-misconceptions" as a sign that SEO is still a thing. When people stop picking up an interest in SEO, maybe they know something you don't., John Mueller on Twitter
- The thing to keep in mind is that .eu is a generic TLD, it's essentially the same as .com. There's no "Europe" targeting, you can target it to any location that you want, or you can just leave it in individual l, John Mueller on Twitter
- Unless their funnel is composed entirely of people within a 30 day window, it won’t really show much to do this for 1 month only, and the bump they’ll get from the marketing exposure of the test itself will make, Kirk Williams on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How marketers can adapt to Google’s local SEO changes
- Google AdSense’s Matched content widget will only show ads starting on March 1, 2022
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
- Alibaba, Baidu Ordered to Ramp Up Fraud Prevention, Caixin Global
- Google Stock: A Buy For Retirement And Growth, Seeking Alpha
- Google's New Headquarters at St. John's Terminal Nears Completion in Hudson Square, Manhattan, New York YIMBY
- Google Ireland agrees €345m tax settlement with Revenue, Irish Times
- New EU political ads law is a step in the right direction, Google Blog
- Google proposes new commitments on browser cookies - UK competition regulator, Reuters
- Italy's antitrust fines Google, Apple for commercial use of data, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- Google Maps users are getting a cool free upgrade, T3
- Top 8 Ways to Fix Google Maps Keeps Crashing on Android, Guiding Tech
Mobile & Voice
- Alexa Quietly Dissolves Cortana Integration, Voicebot
- Pixel Buds keep prompting users to set up Assistant every time, Piunika Web
- Kuo: Apple AR Headset Coming in Late 2022 With Mac-Level Computing Power, MacRumors
SEO
- (Probably) The Best Screaming Frog Settings for (Most) Audits, Technical SEO Consulting
- A Small Business Guide to Using Google Search Console, Business 2 Community
- Google November 2021 Core Update, Semrush
- Google November 2021 Core Update: Winners, Losers & Analysis, Amsive Digital
- Does adding Black Friday to titles improve SEO performance?, Search Pilot
- SEO is not zero sum, SearchPilot
PPC
- 5 things you need to know about Europe’s political ad rules, POLITICO
- 51% of Marketers Still Consider Third-Party Cookies to Be ‘Very Important’, KoMarketing
- Optimizing Visuals to Boost Automotive Ads Performance, Outbrain
- EU Pushes to Limit How Tech Companies Target Political Ads, Wall Street Journal
- An update on our Privacy Sandbox commitments, Google Blog
Search Features
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