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:
- How To Remove Postmates Links In Google Local Knowledge Panel
One of the more annoying things I run into with the Google local panels is a link to order online that simply does not work. In fact, I see it so often that I do not trust the links Google shows in the local knowledge panel. Instead, I go directly to the business web site to check if they have online ordering instead. - Google Tries To Clarify New Google Partner Program Performance Requirements
As you know, Google announced new Google Partner program requirements and the SEM industry did not like them. So Google went ahead and clarified the performance requirements saying that partners do not need to do 100% of the performance metrics but rather only 70%. - Google On Webspam Manual Actions Help: Be Honest, Share Everything & Brace For Feedback
John Mueller from Google posted a short, less than two minute video, for the #AskGoogleWebmasters series on YouTube around dealing with webspam manual actions from Google. In short he said if you are not sure what to do with a webspam manual action, then go to the forums. - Google Snippet With "Uploaded By" Details
I don't think I've seen this before in the Google search results. A snippet that shows "uploaded by" next to an organic search result listing. This was shared by Ryan Clutter on Twitter and it is hard to know exactly why this is shown. It seems like Google wants to show a video thumbnail but is not for some reason. - Google AdSense Ransom Extortion Emails For Invalid Traffic
Krebs on Security posted about new AdSense based extortion and ransom emails going out to Google AdSense publishers. Telling them if they do not pay $5,000 in bitcoins within 72-hours, they will send invalid traffic to the site, thus removing the AdSense earnings Google pays the publisher. - Google Boulder Fancy Fire Pit
Most fire pits I have seen are not really all that fancy; but the one at Google Boulder (at least I think this one is at the Boulder office) is not made of tree stumps to sit on and rocks surrounding
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet: https://t.co/HTg72vrBKJ Updated for 2020 by @BritneyMuller, this is a superb resource. Side note: So many offices I visited during my years in SEO had hung up a printout of the old versio, Rand Fishkin on Twitter
- Amazon Releases Free Amazon Brand Analytics Dashboard, WebmasterWorld
- Goodbye Search Engine Land, SMX and Third Door Media by @cjsherman https://t.co/wKKjllcFO3, Search Engine Land on Twitter
- Jake's right. We care about content. We aim to surface things that are good for users. Semantic, meaningful structure is good for your users, but, Martin Splitt on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Post-holiday analysis: connected TV becomes performance TV
- Goodbye Search Engine Land, SMX and Third Door Media
- Google Ads offers more granular conversion actions for leads and sales
- Bridge the Gap between Marketing and CX (without buying more technology)
- An agency veteran goes in-house to help build and lead a new PPC team
- Video: Chris Boggs on experience in the SEM industry
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Ecommerce Conversion Rates in Google Analytics: What is it, What is a Good Number, How Do I Improve?, HigherVisibility
Industry & Business
- Better Buy: Apple vs. Google, The Motley Fool
- Google is cutting about four dozen positions in its cloud computing division, Marketing Realist
- Oracle hits IBM, Microsoft support for Google in Supreme Court battle, Business Insider
Links & Promotion Building
- How to Effectively React to Link Building Successes & Failures, State of Digital
Local & Maps
- Call Tracking and Local SEO - 5 Myths Busted, Sterling Sky Inc
- SAF Asks Google, Postmates to Delete Unwanted Links, SAF Now
Mobile & Voice
- Microsoft is Working on a Non-Cortana Voice Assistant for Windows 10X, Voicebot
- You can now set your Sonos speaker as Google Assistant's default, Android Police
SEO
- 5 of the Top SEO Mistakes in 2019, Pure Visibility
- How to Write an Incredible Title Tag, Distilled
- What Every SEO Specialist Really Needs to Know about Vectors, SEO Theory
- How to Onboard Your SEO Clients & Then Keep Them: In Search SEO Podcast, RankRanger
PPC
- Google Ads: Pros and Cons, Hallam
- Google AdSense Extortion: Pay or Google Will Disable AdSense, Bill Hartzer
- Sheets & Excel Tips for PPC Newbies, PPC Hero
- Webcast: Inclusive Marketing, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
- The Paywalled Garden: iOS is Adware, Steve Streza
