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:
- January 2019 Google Webmaster Report
In our first monthly recap for 2019 we covered a couple smaller unconfirmed Google updates. It was a slower month with the holidays and New Years but Google launched some new features... - Google Zero Results For Record A Video Result
We know Google launched zero results for time/date, conversion or math related answers. But did you know it might also work for task related queries, such as record a video. Cian Murphy shared a screen shot on Twitter of Google on Android showing him a zero search results page asking him if he wants to record a video. - Google Explains Why Some Image Search Results Look Racist
Someone pointed out to Google's Danny Sullivan that searching Google Image search for [white couples] vs [black couples] shows racist bias by Google. Danny Sullivan explained why the results were not racist on Twitter. - Bing: We Ignore Default Robots Directives If There Is A Bingbot Section
Frédéric Dubut from Bing's search team said on Twitter that if you create a specific robots.txt directive for Bingbot, their crawler, then Bing will only look at that specific section. So you should make sure that when you do that, copy all the directives from the default to the Bingbot section that you want Bing to comply with. - Google Local Asks For Food Or Other Photos From Local Guides
I cannot replicate this, but I suspect certain level Google Local Guides are being asked to upload specific photos to local businesses they are viewing. Here is a screen shot from Carrie Hill where she is being asked to upload a photo of food to this Starbucks local panel. - Google London Building Construction Has Android Logos As Floors Labels
Google is building up their London headquarters and you can see on this photo from Instagram that the floors are marked off with Android logos. You can see floor two with a blue Android logo and floo
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Apologies for this, and you should find that particular featured snippet now removed. The page was strong on the aspect of "boston neighborhoods" generally and likely seemed more list-like than other pages in the results, so g, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- My guess for 2019: Google is going to be really aggressive with features supported with knowledge graph, entities und info bits. This is another test I came across just a minute ago: expandable bits. #google #serp #mobile cc, Valentin Pletzer on Twitter
- What are good free SEO auditing tools?, WebmasterWorld
- A 301 is not a 404 or a 410.…, John Mueller on Twitter
- Little reminder that the robots directive 'none' doesn't mean there isn't any directives, it's the equivalent to 'noindex, nofollow'. It's classed as 'Non-Indexable' in @screamingfrog, with a indexability status of 'noindex'., Screaming Frog on Twitter
- Welcome to 2019! Here’s to all the opportunities this new year brings—includi..., Google+ - LifeatGoogle
Search Engine Land Stories:
- A simple 3-step framework for improving your technical SEO
- Robots.txt tip from Bing: Include all relevant directives if you have a Bingbot section
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google to Shut Down Small Business Community from Google, Bill Hartzer
- Judge dismisses suits against Facebook, Google, Twitter in San Bernardino shooting, NBC News
- Top Search Conferences You Must Attend in 2019, SEM Rush
Local & Maps
- After dying, 112-year-old man lives on thanks to Google Maps, The Columbus Dispatch
- Australian police Google Maps blunder 'missed location of body', BBC News
Mobile & Voice
- Amazon Alexa Skill Counts Rise Rapidly in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Canada, and Australia, Voicebot
- Voice's Impact on Local: The Knowledge Graph, SEO, Paid Search, Street Fight
SEO
- A Look Back At Seo In 2018 & Predictions for 2019, RankRanger
- Google’s Live Stream Update And How You Can Take Advantage, authoritylabs.com
- Target seasonal keywords with 2019 in their name!, keywordkeg.com
PPC
- 5 PPC Strategies to Test in 2019, WordStream
- Get Started With Google's Custom Intent Audiences for Display & YouTube, Metric Theory
- Google Feed Rules Offer Value, but Can’t Replace Enterprise Options, Merkle
Other Search
- The Tyranny of Optimizing for Amplification, SparkToro
