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 Christmas Search Algorithm Update Chatter - I Don't Think So
Over the past few days or so, I have been seeing chatter both at WebmasterWorld and Black Hat World around ranking and traffic changes related to Google organic search. I got to say, I doubt Google pushed anything specific this week or even next week. Rankings do change by itself and new content is always being added to the index but an algorithm update - I doubt it. - Google On Salience Score Matter For SEO
John Mueller from Google was asked if a salience score matters for SEO. His response was "Where do you see that?" Reading into that, I suspect he means, no - but where is that myth coming from. If you dig a bit, you can see it mentioned in the Google Cloud AI docs around entities. - Google: HTML Headings Numbers Do Not Matter (H1 vs H2 vs H3)
Martin Splitt from Google seemed almost upset by advice he saw someone was given around how to use HTML headings or Hx tags on a page. An SEO was told to use H3 tags for level-2 subheading. So what this person did was was make a style for h3 aria-level="2"! - Google Search Console Uncommon Downloads;You Should Request Review & Ignore
Google Search Console is super useful and helpful and the messages can be critical for the performance and safety of your web site. But some messages are not as useful, such as the uncommon downloads notification. Over the past few weeks, webmasters have been reporting getting a ton of these and were unsure how to act on them. - December 16th Google Analytics Bug Not Fixed Yet
Remember the bug we helped uncover with Google Analytics that occurred on December 16, 2019? Well, it is still not fixed and probably won't be fixed for weeks. Google posted an update saying "We have revised our estimated reprocessing timelines for Dec 16-17 data to be ~2 weeks for 360 accounts and ~3 weeks for standard accounts." - Google Dublin Lobby During Christmas
Here is a photo of the lobby at the Google Dublin office during the holiday Christmas season. How colorful and pretty, right? Right? Right!? There are numerous photos of this but this one gets the wi - Google's John Mueller Doing Webmaster Support On Christmas Again
Every single Christmas since John Mueller joined Google, he has been helping webmasters with issues on Christmas eve and Christmas day. He sets aside time from his family on this super important holiday to see if anyone is in distress about their Google ranking issues to offer some sound advice and encouragement on the holiday.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- It's not so much how often you publish (regardless of the platform / CMS), but rather what you publish :), John Mueller on Twitter
- Santa’s coming! 🎅 Join the world-wide countdown to his big trip and check his location with Bing Maps and NORAD: https://t.co/sdGmJd6Xxg https://t.co/VomuTV871A, Bing on Twitter
- Twitter Warns Android OS Users to Update Immediately over Security, WebmasterWorld
- A rel-canonical can work, and is what I'd usually recommend for syndicated content. If it's not officially syndicated, you might want to rethink copying it anyway :), John Mueller on Twitter
- I accepted more cookies in a few days than all the rest of the year combined, so I guess that's good :-)). Hope things are going fantastic on your side!, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Pro Tip: A look back at some helpful tips from our SEO community in 2019
- The 2019 search engine patents you need to know about
- Amazon makes it easier for agencies to advertise on their clients’ behalf
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- 5 things Google got right in 2019—and 5 it got wrong, Fast Company
- Anti-competitive Google must be brought to heel, The Times
- The tech giants dominated the decade. But there’s still time to rein them in, The Guardian
Local & Maps
- Map out your holiday travel with these 6 Google Maps tips, CNET
- Android Auto 10 review: Google's latest update tested, CAR Magazine
Mobile & Voice
- Google app beta breaks Pixel 4's new Google Assistant, 9to5Google
- Sensory Debuts New Smart Appliance Voice Assistant Platform, Voicebot
- 20 Alexa Skills You Should Try, Voicebot
- Revisiting the rise of AI: How far has artificial intelligence come since 2010?, Digital Trends
SEO
- 7 Easy On-Page SEO Tips to Optimize Your Site, Pole Position Marketing
- Succeeding In Enterprise SEO: Is It More About SEO, Or More About The Enterprise?, Forbes
PPC
Search Features
