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.
Most SEOs say they spend 25% or less of their time focused on link building, oh have the times have changed. Microsoft Bing launched buy now features with Shopify and an ethical shopping hub in the UK. An SEO woke up to an extra $80,000 per month because Google pushed his site up in the search results for a competitive keyword phrase - happy holidays SEO! Google said Google Analytics 4 also is not used in Google ranking. Google is testing an image section named "top categorized results," which is weird. Tomorrow's stories will be light - Merry Christmas and be safe everyone!
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Survey Says: Most SEOs Spend Less Than 25% Of Their Time With Link Building
Yesterday, I posted a poll asking what percentage of your time as an SEO is spent doing link building. The Twitter poll has a ton of responses, over X, and it seems like the majority of SEOs spend less than 25% of their time focused directly on link building tasks. - SEO Holiday Gift: Waking Up To $80,000 In New Revenue This Week
There is a Reddit thread I found via John Mueller that claims a site owner woke up to an additional $80,000 in monthly revenue. The person said that over the past several days his traffic skyrocketed 6,000 percent because his rankings for a very competitive term reached the fifth position in Google Search. - Bing Shopping Buy Now Integration With Shopify & Ethical Shopping
Microsoft Bing announced it launched its Shopify integration by allowing a buy now from Bing Shopping and Bing Search to the Shopify site it is hosted on. Plus, a couple weeks ago, it launched a new Ethical Shopping hub in United Kingdom, which should expand beyond the UK. - Google Image Search Section For "Top Categorized Results" - Confused?
Google Image search on mobile has these labels for sections of the images it sometimes shows in the search results. A new label I have not seen before is showing "top categorized results." I have no clue what that means - do you? - No, Google Doesn't Use Google Analytics 4 For Ranking Purposes
Google's John Mueller posted a very necessary clarification that Google does not use Google Analytics 4 for ranking purposes. Just like Google said countless times it does not use Google Analytics in its ranking algorithm, so to with the new Google Analytics 4. - Nooglers Before Christmas At Google Dublin
Here are two new Googlers, Nooglers, outside of the Google Dublin office, dressed up to celebrate the holidays. They look happy. They shared this on Instagram and wrote "New kids googling around on
Other Great Search Threads:
- I think we're trying to limit changes to things which have been already announced for the Page Experience ranking factor. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's a good goal. If you have specif, John Mueller on Twitter
- I would not assume Google's products do well because of their SEO -- for the most part, the front-ends are run by engineers who don't consider SEO at all (and the search team can't, John Mueller on Twitter
- It sounds like you're merging domains then, that's not really what the change of address tool is for. I don't think it would have any effect in a case like that, and imo you can't, John Mueller on Twitter
- The search results are full of SEO'd sites -- who can trust that stuff?! 🤪, John Mueller on Twitter
- There's a lot of information about search engines & information retrieval online -- it's not trivial to follow, and simplifying it to just ML pipelines isn't always that useful. A lot of this is very well doc, John Mueller on Twitter
- To be fair, just because it's listed in the robots.txt file doesn't mean they're blocking all crawling. (Though I suspect for crawlers that don't provide any value it's a different story.), John Mueller on Twitter
- We’ve added new features to help you find the information you need to help protect your loved ones and yourself from COVID. In the US, on Google Search, you can now find free testing locations, vaccine locations for children and, Google on Twitter
- Sure, we could click on everything to see what happens, but it seems kinda inefficient, and not like something that users would do anyway, they can't read the web-developer's minds. I'd just use normal links., John Mueller on Twitter
- That sounds like something with the migration is still going wrong. Having URLs in a site:-query is fine, getting lots of traffic to the old URLs is an indicator that the canonicals haven't switched, which af, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Messy SEO: Fixing site structure while a Google title change sinks clickthroughs
- Microsoft Advertising CVP Rik van der Kooi announces departure
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Analytics Automated Reports: Everything You Need to Know, Databox Blog
- Guide to Collaboration & Transfer Ownership Features in Data Studio, ClickInsight
- Where did my Bounce Rate go?? Meet Engaged Sessions in GA4, Digital Debrief
Industry & Business
- According to former Google CEO, Meta’s Metaverse is “not the best for society”, Analytics India Mag
- GOOGL Stock Growth Seems Unstoppable as Governments Take Action, InvestorPlace
- TikTok surpassed Google as most popular site in 2021, Axios
- Verizon signs up Google Cloud to automate factories, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
- Power: Global Content Marketing Industry to Hit $107,540.6, Globe Newswire
- Why Your Digital Marketing Strategy Needs Long-Form Content, Forbes
Local & Maps
- Apple execs explain why you should use Apple Maps over competitors, AppleInsider
- Apple Maps designers walked us through the latest update, CNN Underscored
- Forget Google Maps as Rival Joins Forces with VW for New Navigation Solution, AutoEvolution
Mobile & Voice
- Apple's VR headset: What to expect and what it will look like, AppleInsider
- Vivaldi launches the first Android Automotive web browser, 9to5Google
- Google disables 'Hold for Me' feature on the Pixel 6 following buggy update, Engadget
SEO
- 800K WordPress sites still impacted by critical SEO plugin flaw, Bleeping Computer
- All in One SEO Plugin Bug Threatens 3M Websites with Takeovers, Threatpost
- The Expansion Of SEO Into All Business Areas, MediaPost
PPC
- Increase PPC Revenue with Google Offline Conversion Tracking, Go Inflow
- How to optimize GAds campaigns with PPC CheckMate methodology, Adworld Experience
Search Features
Other Search
- Santa Claus is coming to town — and we interviewed him, Google Blog
- The Googlers who help track Santa each Christmas, Google Blog
Feedback:
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