To kick things off, I discussed my monthly Google webmaster report is out and that you can catch up on all the important Google news there. Also, Google seemed to have another unconfirmed update last weekend, but that one seemed more focused on the product reviews side of things. The local tracking tool is going insane but the local SEO community says all is status quo. Microsoft finally announced a beta of the content submission API, this is interesting. I caught Google adding links to featured snippets again, those links were not in the site’s content but added by Google as query refinements back to itself - Google told me it was a bug. Google also seems like it can make up artificial author names for its search result snippets. Google’s John Mueller, Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt spoke hypothetically about creating their own search engine named Steve and how they would run it - it was fun and also educational. Google’s John Mueller gave some detailed advice on optimizing images and what to watch out for when it comes to image search rankings. Google confirmed that you can be indexed but not on all of its data centers. Google said it does not penalize sites for using Google Analytics. Google Search Console has stopped reporting on the scroll-to-text fragment URLs. Microsoft Advertising has decided to also expand phrase match to cover broad match modifiers, they blame Google Ads. Google Ads customer match now has a real time match rates report. Google Local Service Ads has a bug that can change your bid modes. Google My Business added wheelchair accessibility attributes. Google My Business support contact us form lets you select your business in a drop down. Google Search now can show emojis in the jump links. Google search is testing a super wide image results box. Rachel Maddow from MSNBC tweeted that she is not happy with the Google results because it hides ads and jumps around, it sounds like malware to me. Verizon sold 90% of both AOL and Yahoo for only $5, it paid about $10 billion for both several years earlier and the two companies were valued at almost $200 billion like 15 years ago. 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.
SPONSOR: This week's video recap is sponsored by Loud Interactive, a Chicago-based SEO firm led by Brent D. Payne.
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Search Topics of Discussion:
- May 2021 Google Webmaster Report
- Google Ranking Algorithm Update; Is It Product Reviews Related?
- Local SEOs Not Seeing Unusual Google Local Ranking Fluctuations
- Bing Content Submission API Beta Is Now Available
- Google Adds Links To Featured Snippets Leading Back To Google Search Results
- Google Artificially Creating Author Names For Some Search Snippets
- Google Talks Hypothetically About Speed As A Ranking Factor - It's Small
- Google Advice On How To Optimize Images While Not Hurting Image Search Rankings
- Google Confirms Your Content Be Indexed But Not On All Data Centers
- Google: We Do Not Penalize Sites For Using Google Analytics
- Google Search Console Stops Reporting On Scroll To Text
- Microsoft Advertising Also Expands Phrase Match To Cover Broad Match Modifier
- Google Ads Customer Match Now Has Real-Time Match Rates
- Google Local Services Ads Bug May Have Changed Your Bid Mode
- Google My Business Wheelchair Accessibility Attributes
- Google My Business Contact Us Form Select Business Drop Down
- Google Search Jumplinks / Sitelinks With Emojis
- Google Search Tests Super Wide Image Results Box
- Rachel Maddow Of MSNBC Calls Out Google For Hiding Search Ads But She Likely Has Malware
- Verizon To Sell Yahoo & AOL For $5 Billion After Buying Each For ~$5 Billion
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