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:
- Vlog #43: Jim Boykin - The Ultimate Link Building Guru Shares Sage Advice
Jim Boykin from Internet Marketing Ninjas invited me to his office to sit down and chat about links. The funny thing is, he came to my office like 15 years ago to build links, no joke... - Google: URL Length Is Not A Ranking Factor
Google's John Mueller had to say on Twitter that "URL length is not a ranking fraction." He was told that a CMS autogenerates URLs that are often longer than what is recommended for SEO. Now, what is recommended for SEO in terms of length? - Google: Use rel=sponsored For Affiliate Links If Possible
Google's John Mueller said that if you can, it is best to use the rel=sponsored link attribute on your affiliate links. You can still use nofollow or combine them if you want, but it would make things clearer for Google if you uses rel=sponsored. - Live: Google Top Stories With Descriptions In Snippets
Back in December, Google announced an update to the top stories section and some of those screen shots showed descriptions, not just an image and title and site name, in the snippet section of the top stories. Well, now I see descriptions in some top stories cards. - Google Pairing Knowledge Panels & People Also Search For
Yesterday we covered a feature that shows "see the connection" between two entities and/or people in Google's knowledge panel. Google has been doing this for the past few weeks according to Mordy Oberstein and he shared more examples of this in action. - Google: GoogleBot User Agent New Name Is Fully Live
Martin Splitt from Google said on Twitter that the new name for the user agent for GoogleBot should now be 100% live. The new user agent name is dynamic, meaning, it will show the latest version of Chrome that GoogleBot is using to crawl and render your web pages. - Google Boat At The Kirkland Office
Michael Wyszomierski, aka Wysz, who has been at Google since 2006 and was part of the spam fighting team with Matt Cutts, shared a photo on Instagram of the Google boat at the Kirkland office.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Just because your site isn't being indexed in the way you want, doesn't mean there's a problem in our systems. Sometimes things just don't happen in the way people want, that's not always a sig, John Mueller on Twitter
- Looks like a new Google Discover feature? "Discover More" tiles where there is usually an ad. @rustybrick, have you seen these before? https://t.co/IgfJR1kup3, Jeff Flowers on Twitter
- Main point is that if you do a search and start interacting with featured snippets, you're effectively refining the search. The results below don't change, but what's happening there becomes far less an issue, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- SEMPO members now part of Digital Analytics Association (DAA), WebmasterWorld
- That assumes you're using a desktop computer, that people see the full URL, and that they understand how affiliate URLs are structured -- that seems like quite a stretch to as, John Mueller on Twitter
- Twitter Suspends Large Network of Fake Accounts, WebmasterWorld
- Yeah, and the Googlebot team is involved, too. We'll make sure you can always tell it's Googlebot but we're looking into the new UA hints API proposals as well., Martin Splitt on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 5 takeaways for marketers from Google’s Q4 2019 earnings
- Hitwise halts some reporting services in wake of Jumpshot’s closing
- Protect your keywords from ad hijacking
- Pro Tip: Here’s why content audits are so important
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to Create Marketing Efficiencies Through Data & Team Integration, Seer Interactive
- Using Big Data Analytics to Engage Customers, In Marketing We Trust
Industry & Business
- Brainlabs acquires SEO agency Distilled, Campaign Live
- Justice Department Ramps Up Google Probe, With Heavy Focus on Ad Tools, Wall Street Journal
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
- Glass Enterprise Edition 2 now available for developers, Google Developers Blog
- Google Assistant testing unified notification settings, 9to5Google
- Improving Smart Home Action Reviews, Google Developers Blog
- Google's new Assistant speaks a second language: Japanese, Engadget
SEO
- How to Optimize for Google's Position Zero, Portent
- January 2020 Winners and Losers: Google Updates Shake the SEO Industry – Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics
- Meta Tags for SEO: A Simple Guide for Beginners, Ahrefs
- Pay Attention to These SEO Trends in 2020 and Beyond, Moz
- Yoast SEO 13.0: Behind the scenes improvements, Yoast
- Approaching SEO in a Queryless World, State of Digital
- Position Zero Is Dead; Long Live Position Zero, Moz
- The Impact of User-Generated Content on Conversions, State of Digital
- UX design trends: The factors that matter most in 2020, Vertical Leap
PPC
- Conversions Increased +101% and +644% YoY When We Restructured Our Paid Campaigns, Seer Interactive
- Top marketers and the customer journey, Microsoft Advertising
