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: Changes To The Search Systems Take Time
Remember when Danny Sullivan of Google showed how he documented an issue in Google search to share internally for review by Google engineers? Well, he was then asked for an ETA on the fix. In which he said "There's not going to be an immediate change." These changes take time and need to be tested he added. - Google: We Still Use PageRank Internally
Google's John Mueller said that in 2020 does "use PageRank internally." He added that it is one of among many other signals Google uses. But Google does not use domain authority, a metric from Moz, he had to say again. - When John Mueller Of Google Is Frustrated A Site Not Ranking Well
I often give this fluffy advice that you should "build a site and content that Google is embarrassed doesn't rank well for the queries they deserve to rank for." Well, here is an example of that advice working. John Mueller of Google has watched a site do everything it should and it still doesn't rank. What is he going to do? - Forget Google Ad Partner Badge, Get A Client Partners Badge Instead
This is fun - as you know, the SEM community is not super happy about the change in requirements around the Google partner badges. Google tried to clarify and dumb it down a little but in short, SEMs feel the requirements align too much with Google revenue goals and less with client goals. - Google's Right Hand Side Featured Snippets Are Being Removed But Not Moved To Center
As you know, Google said they would move the right hand side featured snippets from the right side to the center, but until then, Google would stop deduplicating those snippets. According to both RankRanger and Moz, Google has removed a nice chunk of those, about 60% according to these tool providers. - Car Body Frame Suspended In Air At Google Office
I am not sure what this is about. Maybe it is an art project of some kind. But I found this photo of a car body frame suspended in air near the Google offices, the GooglePlex, in Mountain View, Calif
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Current glitch with Google Ads. They are having an issue pulling in the account ID on the bank account statement. Very tough for agencies that put ad spend on their card and rely on this piece of inform, Jason Parks on Twitter
- Hello to @YouTubeLiaison -- where @MattKoval is in a new role of helping people better understand YouTube and helping YouTube better hear user feedback., Google SearchLiaison on Twitter
- An important clarification, no actual chats were shown to be indexed. We and other search engines indexed pages that were not blocked from search engines and listed some, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- Is there anything you can do about competitors having fake reviews?, Local Search Forum
- U.S. Says Ensure Update to Chrome 80.0.3987.116, WebmasterWorld
- We primarily crawl from the US for search, so that's the speed we'd see. That said, for website speed, we use a variety of metrics with lab & field data, so the websearch-crawling location, John Mueller on Twitter
- Yeah, usually these are seen as redirects. There are various ways to do JS redirects, we should be able to pick up on them if they execute automatically & change URLs., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Competition forces retailers to rethink the role of branded, non-branded and trademark traffic
- What happens if you stop doing SEO?
- 6 reasons why your agency should offer SEO
- Google unleashed the Panda algorithm 9 years ago today
- Video: Dixon Jones on building tools for the SEO industry
- Google patent application reveals hints to E-A-T and categorizing health sites
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Content Marketing Goals: 15 Ways to Set, Track, & Measure Your Efforts, Databox Blog
- How to Create a Complex Funnel Visualisation in Data Studio, Conversion Uplift
- How to use Google Sheets to build a paid marketing Google Data Studio report, Adstage
Industry & Business
- Alphabet Q4 2019 Earnings: A Warning For Long-Term Investors, Seeking Alpha
- Shares of Alphabet, Amazon, and AMD Plunge, The Motley Fool
Links & Promotion Building
- Broken Link Building Using The SEO Spider, Screaming Frog
Local & Maps
- Apple Maps expands its Street View competitor to Boston, DC, Philadelphia, Ars Technica
- Apple's AR plans include accurate handling of real and virtual objects, Apple Insider
- Dunkin' and Walgreens are investing heavily in Google Maps ads, Business Insider
- KFC Canada is piloting Google's new food-ordering feature, Daily Hive
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- Instead of SEO Resolutions, Work a Plan and See Results, BruceClay
- What is SEO Diligence, and Why is it Important for Investors?, iPullRank
- Are H1 Tags Necessary for Ranking? [SEO Experiment], Moz
- How to Add Article Schema Markup to Blog Posts, Hallam
PPC
- How to Layer Audiences & Keywords to Uncover Cheaper Clicks, WordStream
- Responsive Display Ads in Google Ads Scripts, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Three tips to grow your agency & help clients, Microsoft Advertising
Other Search
