Daily Search Forum Recap: December 23, 2020

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 On Why It Won't Reverse The December 2020 Core Update
  There are some SEOs that are asking Google to reverse the December 2020 Google core update. Truth is, it is very common to see this reaction after every single core update. Google's John Mueller first response was "nah, sorry" when he was asked about reversing it. But then he went into a thoughtful response on why not to reverse it.
• Google Ads Estimated List Size Now In Audience Manager
  Google has added the the estimated list size directly in the Audience Manager within Google Ads. Google said the "previously, you were only able to see estimated list sizes for your similar audiences when applying them to campaigns."
• Google: Passage Indexing Has Not Rolled Out Yet
  There has been a lot of speculation that passage indexing is live in the Google search results. I personally have not seen any evidence of that yet but still, I miss a lot of things. I asked Danny Sullivan of Google last night if it rolled out yet and he said, not it has not.
• Google Request Indexing Tool Back After 69 Day Outage
  69 days after Google has "temporarily" disabled the request indexing tool in Google Search Console, Google has finally reenabled it. You can access the tool within the URL Inspection tool. Google said on Twitter "we're glad to announce that 'Request Indexing' is back to the Google Search Console URL Inspection - just in time for the new year!"
• Google: Core Updates & BERT Are Unrelated & Different
  I was asked to find out if the Google Core updates and Google BERT are related at all, if they have anything to do with each other. I'll be honest, I was surprised by the question - I mean, there relation is they are both in Google Search. But BERT is focused on understanding language and core updates are about assessing quality in ranking.
• Creepy Wooden Door At Google Malaysia Office
  Here is an old photo I found on Instagram from the Google Malaysia Office. It is of one of the office doors, which seems to be behind two solid steel doors and then a wooden door with wooden bars. It

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• The default doodle you get for your 10th birthday PS: you can customize it in 7 million ways, hence "the default" PPS: most people have a different name and date on it https://t.co/FqDOxsc8DJ, Gary Illyes on Twitter
• The last #SearchOfftheRecord podcast ep. of 2020! Join @JohnMu @g33konaut & @methode as they reflect on 2020, touch on 2021 plans and share their holiday plans, Google Search Central on Twitter
• Having duplicate content doesn't mean we won't show the website at all. Most sites have duplicate content in one form or another., John Mueller on Twitter
• It's easy to give quick answers to those questions, but IMO the questions show that you need to do more research first. Hreflang (with or without sitemaps) can be really hard, it's worthwhile to "sharpen the axe, John Mueller on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google confirms passage indexing is not yet live
• Google Search Console brings back request indexing tool
• Unlock actionable tactics to measure search marketing success

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• How Customer Analytics Helps to Optimize Buyer Experience, CustomerThink

Industry & Business

• 2020, finally over: Stories from Google this year, Google Blog
• Nia Decaille Joins The Times as SEO Editor, The New York Times Company
• ‘Regulation can get it wrong’: Google’s Sundar Pichai on AI and antitrust, Financial Times

Local & Maps

• Whitespark's New Local Rank Tracker!, Whitespark
• Latest Google Maps Update Said to Fix Long-Time GPS Nightmare, AutoEvolution

Mobile & Voice

• Chrome for Android will soon use Google Assistant for voice input, Android Police
• How to open Google Assistant with back tap on Android smartphone, Mobigyaan
• Some users are unable to use Google Assistant right now, XDA Developers

SEO

• How to Build a Site Structure for SEO, SEM Rush
• Mobile-first Indexing: What You Need to Know, Ahrefs
• Pros and Cons of Using Subdomains for SEO, SEO Theory

PPC

• First-party data & the Microsoft Audience Network, Microsoft Advertising
• Lessons Learned in Automated Bidding for PPC, PPC Hero
• The Facebook Ad Boycott Is Pretty Much Over, Gizmodo
• How To Add Negative Keywords To Your Google Ads Account, Koozai
• How to Leverage Paid Traffic to Maximize Conversions at a Minimum Cost, RankRanger