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:
- Google Search Console Notifications For Drop In Weekly Clicks
Google is now sending out what I believe are new notifications when a site verified in Google Search Console has seen a drop in clicks, impressions, etc. This alert communicates to the site owner or webmaster that there may be an issue. - Google: SEOs Don't Manipulate Google They Manipulate Web Sites
Sometimes Google's John Mueller has these one liners that I just want to share with the SEO community. He said on Twitter "SEOs don't manipulate Google, they manipulate websites." Of course, the Google guidelines mention bad players manipulating the Google search results but here John is being nice and explaining SEOs help web sites in search. - Google Looking To Speed Up Crawl To Render Time But...
As you know, it can take weeks from the time Google crawls some pages to fully render them. Google's John Mueller said on Twitter Google is working on ways to "getting crawling & rendering closer together." He added that this is still a "looong way off" from happening but Google is working on it. - Google Images Related Searches Tests Icons & Images
Google is testing showing images or icons in the Image Search related searches section. Related searches began showing up in December 2017 and now it is common to see them. But you don't normally see them with images or icons next to them. Bhumika Kateliya spotted this test and shared screen shots on Twitter. - Steve Irwin Google Doodle For 57th Birthday On Friday
On Friday, February 22nd, it would be Steve Irwin's 57th birthday. I am pretty sure most people know the name Steve Irwin. He was the legendary, fun and entertaining Australian zookeeper who were and is still part of many people's lives. Now his family, wife, son and other children continue on his legacy after he passed years ago due to an accident. - Cheers The Bar Room At Google's Cambridge Office
Some of you may remember the popular sitcom TV show that ran from the early 80s to early 90s named Cheers. Well, here is an office at Google in Cambridge, I think in Boston, replicating some of the C
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Dear Amrita Sen, Link Builders, Freelancer, from Kolkata, India. I have enough links already, but thanks for the offer anyway. I know people who will be very happy to take a look at your portfolio!, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- I think you're falling into the SEO trap of trying to isolate an individual factor, when it's more useful to consider the whole picture. Does it fulfill user expectations? Does it bring joy?… https://t.co/RfjonaypXR, John Mueller on Twitter
- SEOs need to stop using "here's a crawl i did of your site. I found major issues" as a sales tactic. It just gives our industry a shady reputation. especially when your "major issues" are things like a missing h2 tag or an empty al, Ryan Jones on Twitter
- Yep, looks like there was some type of an update starting on 2/14 or so, and then more impact on 2/17. Check out this GA screenshot. That's a drop of *92%* from Google organic all starting on 2/17 at 6PM. And yes, I'll be digging d, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
- Did I miss this @rustybrick - change in format for the 'People also asked' panels? Or is it new? (top previous, bottom new)… https://t.co/D9fWSmA6QP, Will O'Hara on Twitter
- I'd second Barry's comment -- while you can use GTM to add SD to pages, and some people do, it's more complex and brittle. I'd really try to put the JSON-LD directly on the page.… https://t.co/lOPhm0trA9, John Mueller on Twitter
- I've chatted with folks at conferences after they introduced presenters based on physical appearance (after the session). Something meant as a compliment can be experienced quite differently; all of the ones I chatted with were, John Mueller on Twitter
- Yelp Ad Reps Overly Aggressive, Local Search Forum
Search Engine Land Stories:
- SMBs bullish on virtual assistants, think Alexa has biggest marketing potential
- Coveted featured snippet space is more exclusive than you think, study shows
- Waze partners with WPP to literally drive traffic to retail stores
- Google My Business messaging problems continue
- Google Search Console sending alerts for big ranking, traffic drops
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to compare Google Analytics Segments by blending data in Google Data Studio, Michael Howe-Ely
- Introduction To Google Data Studio, Farida Adamu - Medium
Industry & Business
- Google Takes New Policy Approach Amid Growing Global Threats, Bloomberg
- Scoop: Google exec reorganizes policy shop as global threats loom, Axios
Links & Promotion Building
- How to Improve Your E-Commerce Site with Link Building, Business.com
Local & Maps
- Trustpilot is revealing more data about how businesses flag reviews, TechCrunch
- Watch out Facebook, Google Maps on iOS now lets users track their favorite businesses, too, TechCrunch
- Google knows you took the bus: on the creepy accuracy of Google Maps Timeline, CityMetric
- Why large swathes of countries are censored on Google Maps, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant needs more "action" if it wants to challenge Amazon's Alexa Skills, Stacey on IoT
- Google claims built-in Nest mic was ‘never intended to be a secret’, The Verge
- Voices of Search Podcast: SEO tips for relationship building with your content teams, Search Metrics
- Would you still use Google Assistant even if it had ads?, Android Central
SEO
- Make sense of your data with these essential keyword segments, Moz
- SEMRush vs Screaming Frog Crawling Tools, On Page Rocks
- The Easiest Tool for Testing Page Speed - PageSpeed Insights API, Distilled
- A Local SEO Citation, you Never Knew You Had, SEM Rush
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: February 19th 2019, DeepCrawl
- How B2B Marketers Win at Search Marketing with Best Answer Content, Online Marketing Blog
- SEO Channel Context: An Analysis of Growth Opportunities, Moz
- The importance of on-site SEO consulting for successful client-agency relationships, Builtvisible
- What Is The Market Share Of Featured Snippet Urls? [Study], RankRanger
PPC
- A growing share of Google’s display ads on the web are now built with AMPHTML ads, Google Blog
- App campaigns make their landing: introducing a simpler name for Google’s app ad solution, Google Blog
- Changes to responsive ads in the AdWords API and Google Ads API, Google Ads Developer Blog
- How are Your Best Practices Holding Up In 2019?, PPC Hero
- Last chance to enter: Engage with Bing sweepstakes, Bing Ads Blog
- The 2019 Regional Bing Partner Award winners are, Bing Ads Blog
Other Search
- When Kids Google Themselves, The Atlantic
