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:
- December 11th Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Signals
There are now signs that there is a Google search ranking algorithm update going on. The signals started late December 10th, mostly on December 11th and throughout December 12th. We see both chatter in the SEO forums and from the automated tracking tools... - Google News Submission Not Required, Powered By BERT & New Top Stories Features
Google announced some new features around Google News and Top Stories. First, now Google is using BERT and other machine learning techniques to examine the related articles and determine where one story ends and another begins. Second, Google no longer requires you to submit your site for inclusion into Google News to be shown in News or Top Stories. And Top Stories got some new features... - Fun SEO Role Play Game
Alexis Sanders from Merkle put together a really fun, educational and addictive SEO RPG, role playing game. It is available at technicalseo.guru and you can play it for free... - Google Warns: City Landing Pages Can Be Doorway Pages & Against Guidelines
Google's John Mueller had to warn one SEO that he should not go ahead and build out 1,300 city based landing pages, with the strategy of trying to rank for your keyword phrase + city name. He said that would... - Google Tests Review Carousel In Local Knowledge Panel
Mike Blumenthal posted on Twitter a screen shot of a new look for reviews listed in the local knowledge panel. It shows a carousel of reviews, and Mike said are "query related... - Bing: To Use Machine Learning; You Have To Be Okay With It Not Being Perfect
Frédéric Dubut of Bing said on Twitter that if you do use machine learning in production, like Bing does, you have to be okay with the results not being perfect. And not all applications are okay with not being perfect, but I assume... - John Muller & Lizzi Harvey Hide Under Desks At Google
Here is John Muller and Lizzi Harvey under some desks at the Google Zurich office. The photo is from Daniel Waisberg of Google, this is shortly before the Google....
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- If someone can't come up with "5 tips" to reach the number "5", then users aren't going to stick around anyway :), John Mueller on Twitter
- It looks like a pretty long URL... we +/- never index all pages within a website, so that can be working as intended, even if you'd like to have more :). (Also, impossible to say without the URL), John Mueller on Twitter
- Ranking drop after building many backlinks, WebmasterWorld
- Thank you all for coming to the Webmaster Conference in Zurich - it was great to have you here! If you came, please don't forget to send us feedback, so we know if you want us to do more of these :-). #WMConfDach #WMCZRH h, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 3 pitfalls of PPC experiments
- Consumers more invested in reviews, but also more skeptical of authenticity — survey
- The Fantastic 5: Emerging strategies to drive conversions & growth
- Google adding more news content to ‘top stories’ in search results
- Google now shows carousels of reviews on local business profiles
- How To Win A Search Engine Land Award: 9 Questions With A Judge
- Video: Ben Cook on site migrations & the earlier days in SEO
- Machine learning for next-best offers
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- 10 Ways to Use Calculated Fields in Google Data Studio, Seer Interactive
- Calculating Ratios with Filtered Metrics in Data Studio, ClickInsight
- Using Optional Metrics in Data Studio, ClickInsight
Industry & Business
- DHS’s Jeanette Manfra to join Google Cloud, CyberScoop
- Facebook (FB) and Google Drop Out of Top 10 'Best Places to Work', Bloomberg
- How Google and YouTube are working to protect the 2020 U.S. Census, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
- Should You Be Buying Links for SEO in 2020?, Business 2 Community
Local & Maps
- Motorcycle Mode is appearing on Google Maps for more selected regions and it looks very useful, Ausdroid
- There’s a secret reason that Waze is so much better than Google Maps, BGR
Mobile & Voice
- What’s powering conversational search? Featured snippets, structured data and actions, Yoast
- Your Pixel phone just got helpful with the new Google Assistant and feature drops, Official Google Australia Blog
SEO
- 12 Tips for Improving User Centric Speed Metrics, SEM Rush
- Is Google Out to Get You?, SuccessWorks
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
- Then and now: a decade in Search, Google Blog
- We need a hero: 2019 in Search, Google Blog
