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:
- New: Google Search Console Removals Tool
Google has just launched a new tool within the new Google Search Console named the removals tool. This tool lets you temporarily block search results from your site, it shows reported via other Google public removal tools (i.e. Outdated content) and you can manage SafeSearch filtering in this tool. - Did Google Just Say Links In PDFs Treated As Nofollow Links?
Google's John Mueller said at the 9:43 mark into a Google hangout that for SEO purposes, links in PDF files are treated like links that have the nofollow attribute on them. But the weird thing is, Gary Illyes from Google in 2011 documented on the Google blog that those links do pass PageRank and signals. So which is it? - Google: Not Worth Signing Up For Dofollow Profile Links
Google's John Mueller said "no" it is not worth signing up for dofollow profile links. He said that in a Reddit thread where the user asked "Are dofollow profile sign ups worth it?" John responded with "no" and then walked away. - Google May Have Issues Correctly Indexing Ikea's International Pages
It seems like Google may be having issues indexing and ranking Ikea's international and localized web pages properly... - Google: Do Not Translate Image File Names To Local Language
Let's say you have a large multilingual site and all your pages are translated into the localized language. So page A in the US has the same content as page X in France, but the content is translated into French on page X. The image however is generic enough where that image is good for all the pages it was translated into. - Google Austin Has Some Really Big Books
Here is a photo from the Google Austin office of Jeff Mullen, a senior software engineer at Google, reading a book. But not any book, a book from the Google Austin office and the book is super sized.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- 90% less CTR after multiple changes, WebmasterWorld
- After Google's recent change to Featured Snippet ranking, we got straight to work on updating our tracking software! Now, we treat Featured Snippets as the #1 organic listing in our reporting. Plus, we added a new tool to hel, Rank Ranger on Twitter
- Blocking IP with no reverse?, WebmasterWorld
- Once every while international SEO audit becomes more fun... #klingon https://t.co/6X7q0pC5k9, Reza Moaiandin on Twitter
- Search for Beginners: Episode 7 Top 5 things to consider for your website: 🔍Website & local business discovery on Google Search ✨High quality content ⚡Fast & accessible content on all devices 🔐Website security, Google Webmasters on Twitter
- Google to Shut Down App Maker January 19, 2021, WebmasterWorld
- Images That Will Cause Your Google Posts to Fail and Filter Your Google Posts, Local Search Forum
- Seriously @GoogleMyBiz? This listing title is ok with you, and my removal of spammy terms "can't be verified"? Wow, this is bad. #stopcraponthemap https://t.co/KnDdEBwG8t, Amy Toman on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Search Console launches new removals tool
- Botify partnership with Microsoft brings real-time content indexing to Bing
- How BERT is helping SEO agencies focus on collaboration strategies
- Build Brand Humanity by mastering empathy at scale
- What local SEOs should focus on in 2020
- How to optimize your website’s crawl budget
- Your reputation depends on a solid (and legal) online review strategy
- Google’s SEO job description highlights importance of collaborating with multiple teams
- Video: Thom Craver at CBS Interactive on the importance of schema and a bit on Google News
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Harmonizing KPIs and Web Analytics, Haden Interactive
Industry & Business
- Google will shut down App Maker on January 19, 2021, VentureBeat
- Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data, VICE
- Congress urges Google to act against climate misinformation on YouTube, CNBC
Links & Promotion Building
- How to Use Stock Photo Libraries for Link Building, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Ignore the Views Metric in Google My Business Insights, Sterling Sky Inc
- Building Better Maps, Popular Mechanics
Mobile & Voice
- Another Google Home update is killing some units w/ Preview, 9to5Google
- How voice assistants killed automation and saved the smart home, CNET
SEO
- Best Practices For Lead Generation and Routing, BrightEdge SEO Blog
- Google Podcasts App and Making Podcasts Easier to Find, SEO By The Sea
- Google's January 2020 Core Update: Has the Dust Settled?, Moz
- How to Track Featured Snippets as Position One, RankRanger
- Why It's a Mistake to Build a Content Strategy Around Keywords, Martech Advisor
- A Guide To Using Structured Data, DeepCrawl
- Google Product Search and Learning about New Product Lines, SEO By The Sea
- How Accurate Are Google's Results? In Search SEO Podcast, RankRanger
- SEO Timescales, How long does SEO Take to Work, Craig Campbell
PPC
Search Features
- Google and the Super Bowl: Here to help, Google Blog
Other Search
- Cookie classification on AMP, The AMP Blog
- Data Privacy Day: seven ways we protect your privacy, Google Blog
