It has been a slow week or so in the search news space because of the holidays but hey - things are never sitting idle in our industry. There has been some speculation that Google did some sort of algorithm update over the Christmas weekend but it seems highly doubtful. Google’s Danny Sullivan explained that the pages ranked because of passage indexing won’t look any different. Plus the use of the nosnippet tag won’t impact ranking for passage indexing. Oh, and the page experience update and passage indexing are unrelated - which you probably knew already. Google is testing displaying practice problems for studying in the search results. Google is also testing short videos from TikTok and Instagram. Bing is testing related content overlays for image results. Google Search Console’s issue validation bug seems to work. Google is testing displaying service justifications in the local pack. John Mueller of Google gave some 2021 SEO advice a few weeks back. John was also spotted helping out on Christmas day and New Years. And I hope you didn’t miss the News Years Eve and Day Google Doodles and confetti. Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021! Oh and if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
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Search Topics of Discussion:
- Christmas Weekend Google Algorithm Update? Doubtful.
- Google: Passage Indexing Won't Look Different From Normal Search Result Snippets
- Google: Nosnippet Tag Won't Prevent Passage Indexing From Ranking
- Google: Passage Indexing & Page Experience Updates Unrelated
- Google Search Results Show Practice Problems For Studying
- Google Short Videos Carousel Displays TikTok & Instagram Videos
- Bing Image Search Tests Related Content Feature & Icon
- Google Search Console Issue Validation May Be Working
- Google Tests Displaying Services In Local Pack
- Google's John Mueller 2021 Google SEO Advice
- John Mueller Of Google Providing Webmaster Support on Christmas Day Again
- John Mueller Of Google Helping Webmasters On New Years 2021
- Google Doodle For New Year's Eve 2020 & Confetti Surprise
- January 1 New Year's Day Happy New Year Google Logo / Doodle
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