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 Crawl Stats Report Internal Data Issues March 10-23, 2021
Google posted in the data anomalies page that the crawl stats report deep inside the Google Search Console interface had internal reporting issue between March 10 and March 23, 2021. As a result of the data issues, you may see a - Google Page Experience Update Rollout: Slowly Or Abruptly
With all the unnecessary panic over the Google Page Experience update coming up in May, the question now is, will this update roll out slowly or abruptly? Will Google slowly roll out the impact of this update or will it be a jarring release all at once? - Google Ads Property Promotion Ads For Hotel Campaigns
Google has launched global availability its property promotion ads within Google Ads hotel campaigns. Google said this is "an ad format that helps advertisers reach users who have not yet identified the exact hotel they would like to book." - Google My Business Bug With Address Verification Form
Google has a bug in Google My Business when you try to verify or update an address. The form seems to bug out and show a blank screen. So if you need to update or verify your business address, you will be out of luck until Google fixes the issue. - Google Search Penalty For FTC Warning Letters - Nope
Here is a new question I have never seen asked before; does Google downgrade the search rankings of web sites that receive FTC warning letters about their medical and health content. The answer is no, not that I know of, but it is interesting that someone asked the question. - Google On Search Rankings With Hyphenated Words
The topic of hyphens between words is a classic old time SEO question, something we've covered here many times. Recently, John Mueller of Google was asked about how Google treats words with hyphenation. For example, is WiFi the same as Wi-Fi to Google. Does Google always ignore the hyphen between words and so on.
"drop in data in this period," Google said.
- Goodbye Suckers Whiteboard Message From Outgoing Googler
In 2018 I spotted a photo of a message left by an outgoing Googler. This Google employee left a note for her colleagues on her last day of working at Google. She wrote "Goodbye Suckers" on the white
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Backlinks: Dofollow vs Nofollow, WebmasterWorld
- I'd double-check and just try it out... IMO serving both shouldn't affect the outcome of the live inspect URL, that sounds more like there might be other reasons why we can't get that metadata., John Mueller on Twitter
- If it's the same character in the URL path/query-string, just a different & valid encoding change, then it's seen as the same character. Upper/lower case hex doesn't matter. Commas are, John Mueller on Twitter
- We don't have individual controls for all search features; the nosnippet is a general control for snippets overall. The data-nosnippet would be a good option if there's a specific part that you wouldn't want displa, John Mueller on Twitter
- You can now see the number of unique visitors your Business Profile gets and the search queries that they used to discover you — all directly on Google Search. 📈 Learn more → https://t.co/18kJeHNNlN https://t.co, Google My Business on Twitter
- That's by design (and documented). The cache is the returned HTML. JS on the page can still run, but there are browser security issues that may block off-page requests (eg, John Mueller on Twitter
- Trivia Friday... umm... Friday trivia? the robotstxt testing tool doesn't work on Search Console domain properties. Why? First correct answer gets a cookie in 2047 when we can travel again. https://t.co/R8wtBOI, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- Your periodic reminder that crawlers that obey robotstxt won't see a noindex directive on a page if said page is disallowed for crawling. prompted by https://t.co/i7ouMoqNT6 which was answered by @patrickstox h, Gary Illyes on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google crawl stats report data issue
- Does every CDP do everything?
- Google announces global launch of property promotion ads for hotels
- Google’s newest version of Analytics (GA-4) is here
- FLoC testing hits a snag in Europe; Wednesday’s daily brief
- Microsoft Advertising blocks 1.6 billion ads while dealing with the pandemic, says annual ad quality review
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- 412 Food Rescue uses the new Google Analytics to cut reporting time by 50%, Google Blog
- Ecommerce Conversion Rate: The Analytics of the Retail Funnel and How to Actually Improve It, Ecommerce Guide
Industry & Business
- A subscriptions lab for European publishers, Google Blog
- Google signs news content deals with Italian publishers, Reuters
- Silicon Valley firms in no hurry to open up offices despite easing of virus ban, Reuters
- What happens when ICE asks Google for your user information, Los Angeles Times
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- Everything you need to know about bilingual business listings, DAC
- Old Android Auto Bug Breaking Down Google Maps Returns to Haunt Users Again, AutoEvolution
- Scammers Targeting Businesses Through Apple & Google Maps, Routing Calls To Themselves, News9
Mobile & Voice
- The majority of US adults have no interest in voice shopping, eMarketer
- Google Assistant 'Memory' revamps reminders on Android, 9to5Google
SEO
- 5 Key Best Practices for SEO Testing (+9 Ideas to Try Now), WordStream
- 8 Ways to Determine Link Value in SEO, DealerOn
- Entity-Based Search For Advanced SEO, Schema App Solutions
- How to Measure SEO Share of Voice on Semrush, SEM Rush
- Search Central LIVE Q&A, Search Off the Record
PPC
- Sustainable Monetized Websites: A new video series, Google Blog
- Introducing ad suggestions with auto-apply, Microsoft Advertising
