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:
- Search Buzz Video Recap: Google Algorithm Update, Mobile First Indexing Update, Medic Update, Link Schemes & More
This week in search, Google probably did a search algorithm update last weekend - but they did not confirm it. Google's mobile first indexing is now on over 50% of... - Google Search Console Manual Action Reviews May Give You More Details
Generally, I always thought you only submit a review request for a manual action when you fixed the problem. But John Mueller of Google said you can submit the request to receive more details on where the specific issues are. - Google Recognizes Web Mentions But Says They Are Not Links
In this mornings Google webmaster hangout, John Mueller from Google briefly touched on the concept of web site mentions without links. He said that Google would recognize a mention as a mention but he said it is not the same thing as a link. That was it - which will make a lot of SEOs scratch their heads. - Google Link Schemes Now Includes Contractually Requiring Follow Links
Over the past few months, Google added to their link schemes guideliens page a line that basically says you cannot require someone to link to you without the nofollow attribute. If you require such a follow link in your terms of service, a contract or some other arrangement, then that is considered a "link scheme" by Google. - Google Winter Solstice Doodle For First Day Of Winter
On the Google home page is an animated Google Doodle, logo, for the first day of Winter - the Winter Solstice. This Doodle is specific to those searchers in the Northern Hemisphere. We also have a cool animated theme here, so check it out on desktop. - John Mueller As Google AMP-Man
Here is a photo that Gary Illyes from Google shared on Twitter of John Mueller peaking out from his cubicle at Google with his AMP mask on. John said he is AMPMAN and Gary described it was HTML marku
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- We don't recrawl & reprocess a whole site at once; it happens on a per-URL basis, over a longer period of time. Patience :)…, John Mueller on Twitter
- The spam team doesn't change the algorithms, so that would be futile. In general, I'd recommend checking in with peers, eg at a forum, and taking their input into account. Sometimes there's no easy fix, but getting tips on dire, John Mueller on Twitter
- If it's all pages, including the homepage, then I'd double-check with Fetch as Google to make sure there's no "noarchive" robots meta tag / header being sent. But if the pages are ranking "normally", and the snippet looks good, John Mueller on Twitter
- Insights on branded searches, The Google Advertiser Community
- New Product Experts, The Google Advertiser Community
- No, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad sign, not all indexed pages show a cached link. If you're worried about a cloaked hack, I'd use Fetch as Google or the Mobile Friendly Test to check with a Googlebot user-agent & IP. (I l, John Mueller on Twitter
- Not sure if this is new - if it is it's fascinating: 1- An organic result within People Also Search For 2- The sub-carousel isn't another entity, but a different take on the same one/kind. It's more similar to a People Also A, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
- That's usually not something you'd need to do -- I'd recommend using the disavow tool more for links that are really problematic which you can't fix (eg, old paid links), not just because you don't like the linking site. It mak, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How to create landing pages that convert
- Google Home wins smart speaker IQ test but Siri beats Alexa and Cortana
- Google is testing a pronunciation feature in web search
- Opinion: Congress needs to do their homework on search engines
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- A slice of Google: looking back on 2018, Google Blog
- Google Data Studio + Google Search Console - Export By Day, Jonathan Jones
- Introducing the Data Studio Community Visualizations Developer Preview, Google Blog
- To Get the Most Out of Google Analytics, First Understand What It’s Telling You, Zach Heller Marketing
Industry & Business
Links & Promotion Building
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant is reportedly coming to Samsung TVs, The Verge
- Siri accuracy dramatically improves in latest smart speaker showdown, Apple Insider
SEO
- Canonicalizing Your Site: Understanding the Why and How, BrightEdge SEO Blog
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: December 21st 2018, DeepCrawl
PPC
- The Top 10 Google Ads Innovations of 2018, WordStream
- 2018 Ad Manager API Workshop Slides, Google Ads Developer Blog
Other Search
- Google+ APIs shutting down March 7, 2019, Google Developers Blog
