It was a busy week in search; I posted my monthly Google webmaster report, which sums up the past month in SEO. I also noticed Google search ranking changes earlier in the week. SEMRush ran into a bit of a scandal with its new guest posting service, Google called it against its webmaster guidelines. John Mueller of Google said he normally does not pass along spam stuff from social media. Bing Webmaster Tools launched two new features this week, a competitive link analysis tool and a way to do a site scan for an SEO audit. Google featured snippets now highlight and anchor to your content on your page. Google won’t be doing Search Console reporting for those featured snippets. Google had an indexing issue again this week that it confirmed and fixed. Google said it can use historical data for ranking purposes. Bing wouldn’t say it would never use the meta keywords tag for ranking. Google My Business expanded more hours for more flexibility. Google Ads added explanations to its console. Google Keyword Planner tool added a refine keywords feature. Google Discover Ads is now globally available. Google rich results might have expanded to show on home pages. Google featured snippets and local one packs are now combined. Google is testing sitelinks with borders. And Google has a new search lead, Prabhakar Raghavan, who replaced Ben Gomes - a 20 year Google vet. 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:
- June 2020 Google Webmaster Report
- Early Signs: June Google Search Ranking Update & Fluctuations
- SEMrush Selling Links That Are Against Google's Guidelines
- John Mueller: Often I Don't Report Spam To Webspam Team
- Bing Webmaster Tools Link Tool Lets You Compare Link Profiles
- New: Site Scan In Bing Webmaster Tools
- Google Featured Snippets Now Highlight Answers On Your Website
- Google Wont Add Featured Snippet Highlight Tracking To Search Console
- Is Google Not Showing Fresh Content In Search Results Again?
- Google: The Search Indexing Issues Are Now Resolved
- Google Can Use Historic Data For Ranking Your Site In Search
- Bing Won't Rule Out Meta Keywords Tag Forever
- New Google My Business Custom Hours By Category
- New Google Ads Explanations Show Changes In Account Performance
- Google Keyword Planner Adds Refine Keywords
- Google Discovery Ads Now Available Worldwide
- Google Rich Results Now Showing For Home Pages - Is It A Bug?
- Google Featured Snippet Local One Pack
- Google Tests Sitelinks With Borders
- Prabhakar Raghavan New Lead Of Google Search; Replaced Ben Gomes
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